Mango Frozen Yogurt

One of my favorite fruits of all time is mango and it's no surprise that both my husband and son love this fruit as well.  Most of the time we eat it fresh, though my husband like diced fresh mango with his ice cream.  That gives me the idea of making this mango frozen yogurt.  I grabbed a few champagne mangoes at the market since these are sweet with smooth texture.  Back when I was growing up in Indonesia, the variety of mangoes are numerous and each mango has distinct taste and smell; it'll be wonderful to able to have a selection of mangoes like that here.  How I miss eating those mangoes!

Mango Frozen Yogurt

Makes about 1 pint



1 cup water

2/3 cup sugar

2 small ripe champagne mangoes, peeled and diced

1 cup Greek yogurt--I used whole milk Greek yogurt

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Pecan Lace Cookies, optional



In a small saucepan, combine water and sugar and bring to a boil.  Cook until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 6 minutes.  Let the sugar syrup cool.

In a blender or food processor, puree the diced mango with 2 tablespoons of the sugar syrup.  Transfer 1/4 cup of the puree to a bowl and whisk in the Greek yogurt, milk, lemon juice and the remaining sugar syrup.  Pour the mixture into a glass bowl and let chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.  Refrigerate the rest of the mango puree as well.

Freeze mixture in the ice cream maker according to unit's instructions.  Towards the end of the unit cycle, pour the remaining mango puree to make a swirl pattern.  Store the frozen yogurt in an airtight container and freeze for at least 4 hours before consuming.  Served with Pecan Lace Cookies if desired.



Source: adapted from Coconut-Mango Frozen Yogurt, Food & Wine, March 2010

Summer Ice Pops: Strawberry Mint

So here's the recipe for the strawberry pops. Made with mint simple syrup and fresh Oregon strawberries, the pops look so bloody red! They taste amazing though, the mint is very subtle, the strawberries really shine.  To mix two different flavors, freeze half of the first mixture about 1 hour, then add the second mixture.  Now I'm never gonna go back buying store bought ice pops anymore, this is way healthier and fresher!

Strawberry Mint Ice Pops

Makes approximately 10 3 fluid ounce pops

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1-2 pounds strawberries
4-5 fresh mint leaves

To make simple syrup, gently heat sugar and water, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Steep the syrup with mint, remove from heat; let cool.

Rinse and mash strawberries with a potato masher until smooth. Add 1/3-1/2 cup simple syrup for every cup of pureed syrup, taste as you go, adding more fruit or simple syrup as needed. Note: keep it a bit sweeter because the pop tends to lose sweetness when frozen.

Pour mixture into molds, add stick, and freeze.

Source: adapted from People's Pops by Joel Horowitz and Nathalie Jordi

Summer Ice Pops: Pineapple Ginger Coconut

Okay, so when a grocery store had a sale on pineapples, what do you do?  If you're like me, you'd run to the store and bought more than one pineapple for sure.  Fred Meyer had $1/pineapple this week so I had to have it; in my household, pineapple is a favorite fruit.  I bought one for eating fresh and another one for making pineapple pops.  I have ready a ginger simple syrup in my fridge, something that now I know it's so easy to make, I must have some ready in the fridge for making something sweet.

My flavor combo of this week for the pops is pineapple, ginger, and coconut.  The recipe is a very easy one:  I put one whole pineapple in the blender, then I combined it with ginger simple syrup to make it slightly sweeter than normal.  The sugar will mellow when the pops are stored in the freezer, so you should make your pops always a tad too sweet.  The recipe for the simple syrup here will be most likely used all because it's thicker than a regular simple syrup.  Since I have not bought any popsicle molds, I had to resort using a 3-ounce paper cups again (like I did with this banana blueberry gelato).  I really don't mind using the paper cups though I'm putting popsicle mold in my wish list nevertheless.  I see myself making pops every summer now.

I like to steep the ginger in my syrup for a day or two so the ginger really sings in the pops :)  There's a bit of heat from the ginger that's refreshing yet it's still subtle enough, and with toasted shredded, sweetened coconut in the pops, these add texture and bring more of that tropical island kick to the pops.

And along with these pops, I made strawberry pops that has been mixed with mint simple syrup which was also fabulous.  On some cups I put these two together and they came out very pretty and vibrant.  The recipe for the strawberry pops will be in the next post, don't you worry.  Now, who don't want to have these all summer long?!

Pineapple Ginger Coconut Ice Pops

Makes about 10 3-fluid ounce pops



Ginger Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

5-6 thin slices, peeled, fresh ginger

Combine water, sugar, and sliced ginger pieces in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.  Keep syrup in a refrigerator after it cools down.  It is best to make this one or two days ahead because the flavor will be more pronounced.



Pineapple mixture:

1 medium size pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces



About 1 cup toasted, shredded sweetened coconut



Put pineapple pieces in a blender and puree until smooth.  Add syrup to pureed pineapple, 1/2 cup at a time; make sure the mixture is very sweet.  Pour pineapple mixture into cups or ice pop molds, add stick when partly frozen if using paper cups.  Freeze until solid.

For a variation:  add toasted coconut in the cup/mold and after the cup/mold is filled.

Strawberry Pops

Now is the right time to enjoy pops, especially homemade strawberry pops.  They are not hard to make, in fact, I don't have a specific recipe of how to make it.  Just blend fresh strawberries with sugar and some milk.  Pour it into a popsicle mold and there you have it!  Perfect for a Fourth of July picnic, I must say.  Enjoy the pictures and make some!

Kit Kat Blancmange

Kit Kat in blancmange is not a bad idea after all.  It needs not be perfect, it personally just need to be comforting.  I once saw this combination in a Taiwanese baking website, though when I went back recently the site was not available anymore.  I could not decipher the whole message since the announcement was written in Mandarin, and I was not in the mood to translate it.  Then I remembered that I saved the copy of the recipe not long after I discovered it.  Few key strokes later I unearthed the recipe.

To my horror, the quantity of water in the recipe was unbelievably a lot.  I did not have a reference to the original recipe anymore, and the only explanation for using the water is to dissolve the gelatin powder.  I braved myself trying it out but I took a prevention step in regards to how much water I needed to use.  Then, I was stumped to how to keep the Kit Kat from moving side-to-side while I poured the blancmange mixture into a lined small loaf pan.  They kept bobbing up and would not stay down at all.  I cursed myself and carried on.  The trip from kitchen countertop to the refrigerator was enough to sway those Kit Kat again.  Later, once it was securely stable on the refrigerator shelf, I poked the Kit Kat, trying to line them up to no avail.  I cursed myself twice and closed the refrigerator door and hoped for the best till the next day.

The next day, feeling slightly better, I opened the refrigerator and found the mixture had hardened.  I flipped that baby away, it was kind of flimsy.  I decided to pair this with cut fresh fruits, that were mango and kiwi.  It was not bad at all.  The Kit Kat stayed pretty crunchy, it was definitely make-and-eat-right-away dessert.  The longer the Kit Kat stayed in the blancmange, the mushier it got.  I decided to write the recipe here for any brave soul to try.  I promise myself to try the recipe again, maybe with a different type of chocolate candy :)

Kit Kat Blancmange

Serves 2

100 ml whole milk

100 ml whipping cream

50 gr granulated sugar

2 tablespoons water

5 gr gelatin powder

20 ml amaretto liquor

3 pieces mini Kit Kat

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Garnish: cubed fresh fruits to your liking

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Line a small loaf pan or any small dish with plastic wrap.

Combine together milk, cream and sugar in a medium saucepan.  Heat over medium-low heat until it bubbles on the edge of pan.

Combine water and gelatin in a small ramekin.  Set the ramekin a pan of hot water (the water should just reach halfway of the ramekin) for about 5 minutes, or until the gelatin dissolves to a clear mixture.  Whisk in amaretto into the gelatin mixture.  Let gelatin cool for 5 minutes.

Whisk gelatin mixture into the cream mixture, stir well.

Arrange the Kit Kat on the bottom of the pan/dish, pour the liquid mixture.  Let it set in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.  Flip the blancmange to a serving dish.

Before serving, garnish with fresh fruits.

Avocado Chocolate Bits Frozen Yogurt

The first time I saw the recipe, it was on Fine Cooking website, and so it being avocado I've got to try it.  In the US, avocado are used mainly in savory dishes, but you would find around the world that the fruit is often used in sweet dishes.  Philippine, Indonesia, Brazil, and Vietnam share the love of pureed avocado shakes sweetened with sugar and/or sweetened condensed milk, with chocolate syrup sometimes added in Indonesia.

My family loves to drink avocado shakes, sometimes a shot of coffee is added to the drink, along with a pinch of salt to round up the taste.  I wanted to marry the flavor of avocado and chocolate in this frozen yogurt, and what better way than to add chopped bittersweet chocolate in it?

The original recipe asked for lime zest along with the juice to give a tang to the frozen yogurt, but I don't want to do that.  I want my frozen yogurt creamy and sweet.  I then only added half tablespoon of lemon juice to keep the avocado from being discolored.  The top it off, just before serving I drizzle some sweetened condensed milk; now you might think it's a no-no, but not until you try all of those together then you may say, ah, I get it.  Pale green with flecks of chocolate, this frozen yogurt is sure pretty.

Avocado Chocolate Bits Frozen Yogurt

Makes about 1 quart



2 cups whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large egg yolks

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

2 medium, firm-ripe avocados (6 to 7 oz. each), peeled, pitted

1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

1/3 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cacao)

Sweetened condensed milk for drizzling, optional



Heat milk and sugar over medium heat in a medium saucepan until just comes to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Stir in the vanilla.

Have ready a large bowl filled with ice and set a small metal bowl over the ice with a strainer set over it.

Place egg yolks in a medium bowl, lightly beaten.  Ladle some of the milk into the egg yolk, whisk it to prevent curdling.  Pour this mixture back into the rest of the milk in the saucepan.  Cook over low-medium heat until mixture is thick and can cover the back of a wooden spoon, about 4 to 8 minutes.

Pour the mixture over the strainer into the small bowl; stir in the yogurt.  Whisk the mixture over the ice bath until it cools completely.

Scoop the avocado meat and puree in a blender or food processor along with the lemon juice and some of the cooled custard.  Pour this mixture back to the rest of the custard, blend them together until it is thick and creamy.

Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.  Halfway through the freezing process, fold in the chopped bittersweet chocolate.  Transfer the frozen yogurt into a freezer-safe container and freeze until solid, at least 4 hours.

Wine Gelée with Fresh Peaches and Blackberries

Here's an idea to use up summer fruits.  Light, pretty, slightly intoxicating as well, a choice to have when you don't have time to make an elaborate desserts.  The choice of using white wine, sweet wine, or sparkling wine is really up to you.  Even you can use sparkling juice to make it non-alcoholic if you're serving for little people under ages as well.

Fresh peaches were plentiful this season and their so very juicy and sweet.  Most of my peaches were canned, but I made sure I left some to eat with this gelée.  Blackberries?  They could be found anywhere in Oregon, I got some from an empty city lot across the street from my friend's house.  They could be prickly but when they're ripe, there's no going back.

Wine Gelée with Fresh Peaches and Blackberries

Serves 4 to 6



One 1/4-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin

1/3 cup organic sugar

1/2 cup wine or water

1 1/2 cups sweet and/or sparkling wine, or sparkling juice

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 to 1 1/2 cups peaches, sliced into small pieces and lightly sugared

1/2 cup fresh blackberries



Sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup cold water and set it aside to soften.

Combine the sugar with the 1/2 cup wine in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is dissolved.  Remove from the heat and stir in the softened gelatin.  Stir until it's thoroughly dissolved, then pour it into the rest the wine along with the lemon juice.  Mix well, then pour into a bowl or a compote dish and refrigerate until set.  Wine takes longer to set, so plan on at least 6 hours, or even overnight for a firm set.

Chop the jelly into cubes, then serve it in glasses interspersed with the fruits.



Source:  adapted from Seasonal Fruit Desserts by Deborah Madison

Banana-Blueberry Gelato

When the weather was predicted to be super hot late last week, I quietly rejoiced because it's been cool ever since I was back in town.  It's like waiting for the summer to begin, my friends told me that I didn't miss much in July anyway.  August is supposed to be very nice in Oregon, I'm counting on you, Mother Earth.  We all wish that school didn't end till the end of June and will not start again until middle of September so we all can enjoy the warmth.

So yeah, the weather hovers around the upper 90's.  It's dry hot that's quite uncomfortable at times, I try to keep my house cool by opening windows in the morning, and shut them midmorning when the sun's going high.  The plan to make gelato came just as I had quite a bit fresh blueberries in the frigde.  I wanted to whip it up pretty quickly, providing it's also made of fruits, blueberry is one of them.

The first thing I made was the blueberry sauce for it to be added to the gelato.  The sauce was supposed to be a bit thicker, but it turned out okay, I could still use it.  Once the sauce chills, time to make the gealto base.  It's quite simple since it only used milk, sugar, vanilla extract, mashed bananas, and a bit of lemon juice to prevent the bananas from getting brown.  My idea was also to make gelato popsicle because it's fun for my son to eat it like that.  And you know what, chocolate covered gelato-on-a-stick is even better!

Photographing melted gelato on a hot day was fun, the waiting time is rewarded with something cool in the end.

Banana-Blueberry Gelato

Yields about 9 3-oz portions



Blueberry Sauce:

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups fresh bluberries

Gelato:

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ripe bananas

Juice of 1/2 lemon

9 3-oz. paper cups

9 popsicle sticks



Make the blueberry sauce:

Mix the sugar and water in a small pan.  Heat until sugar is dissolved, then boil for 3 minutes or until the mixture is thickened, do not let it caramelized.  Cool slightly.  Puree the fresh blueberry in a food processor or a blender then press through a sieve over a bowl.  Stir in the syrup and chill well.

Make the gelato:

Heat the milk in a medium-sized pan, bring to boil continuously.  Take the pan off heat and pour the sugar and vanilla extract, stir until dissolved, cool slightly then chill well.

Put the lemon juice in a bowl, mash the bananas with fork into the bowl.  It is okay if the bananas pieces are a bit chunky.  Mix banana mixture with gelato base.  If using an ice cream machine, follow the manufacturer's instruction.  After the churning process is done while the gelato is still partly frozen, drop blueberry sauce by spoon into the gelato.  Mix it just enough to get ripple effects into the gelato.

Spoon and divide the mixture into the 3-oz. cups evenly, fill the cups until it is full.  Insert the popsicle sticks.  Freeze the gelato until firm.

*If desired, coat the gelato with melted chocolate.  I used bittersweet chocolate here, but you could use different types of chocolate as well.*



Source:  adapted from Making Ice Cream and Iced Desserts by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis