Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

It's getting increasingly warm and humid here in rural New Jersey, and whilst the air conditioner is set to a balmy 72 degrees, it's not enough to keep my mind off the heat.  We find ourselves craving cool summertime staples like crisp watermelon and creamy ice cream.  But, as there is a limit to the amount of chocolate ice cream that even I can (or should) stuff down my gullet after dinner, I made these frozen treats yesterday to mix it up.

Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

1 16 oz. bag frozen strawberries
1 32 oz. bottle of kefir yogurt
1 large container of Greek yogurt (like Fage, 500 gr)
1 pint of fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange blossom water
1 good pinch of salt

In the bowl of a large food processor, empty the entire bag of frozen strawberries.  Using the "pulse" option, chop down the strawberries until they are small frozen bits.  (Depending on the strength of your food processor or the size of the berries, you may want to let them thaw a bit first before processing so your food processor doesn't throw a fit.)

Add sugar, kefir and about 2/3 of the blueberries, reserving the rest of the berries for garnish.  Add the vanilla, salt, and orange blossom water (if using).  Pulse again until well blended.  Because my food processor capacity doesn't go much further, I emptied most the bowl contents at this point into my largest mixing bowl.  Now, inside the almost empty food processor, I put in the Greek yogurt, and give it a couple pulses, just to liquify it down a bit.  I find this helps with combining it with the rest of the kefir-berry mixture, but you could also slowly whisk in the Greek yogurt by hand without food processing it.  Now, combine the Greek yogurt and kefir-berry mixture into the mixing bowl and mix together until everything is well combined.

Because I wanted to have individual servings set up, I bought some clear plastic cups from Target's party section.  With a 1 cup measuring cup, I dumped one cup of the mixture in each up.  It makes about 12 cups total.  Into each cup, I added about 3-4 blueberries as a garnish, then I cleaned up any spills around the cup edges with a wet paper towel.  Cover in plastic wrap and set in the freezer, and they are ready to go!

Simple Berry Frozen Yogurt

Tip: As you can see in the shot below, the cup is only half-full.  So I cover loosely in plastic wrap, and after they are frozen, I can stack about 3 cups together to make room in the freezer.  The plastic wrap nestles down between each cup, so the bottom of one cup won't get messy from the top of another.

I like to eat mine semi-freddo, so I let it sit out on the counter for about an hour before eating.  It also means I have to pre-plan my snack a little bit, which cuts down on impulse eating straight out of the freezer!

Next I plan to try mango and pineapple flavors.  What other flavors do you think would work for homemade frozen yogurt?