I can’t quite focus, my mind is all scattered and fragmented. A nasty voicemail left at work this morning threw me off, and I am feeling a bit of out of sorts. Like the music is playing but I can’t quite keep the beat. You know that feeling? I’d like for it to stop. And this is why I need to get the message across right away. That spoon above is full of something delicious – maple Frozen Yogurt. And you must make it soon. Maybe to sit on top of these. Because they go excellently together. I know this because that’s how we had ours.
Look, I know that it’s mid-November and that you might have retired your Ice Cream machine for the season, and I know what you’re thinking about homemade ice cream: all that waiting and planning ahead is just a bit too much around this harried time of year. I’ll be honest: this ice cream takes time. There are egg yolks to temper and a custard to chill. But this maple frozen yogurt – nothing to it!
First of all, this isn’t quite ice cream, nor is it quite frozen yogurt. It’s a bit of both, straddling both names and ideas. Secondly, it takes mere minutes to prepare, an hour to chill, and then the whole mess goes into the ice cream machine to emerge half an hour later as a glorious frozen maple ice cream. Or frozen yogurt. Whatever you want to call it. This is so easy and requires such minimal hands-on time, you could do the whole endeavor on a busy weeknight after getting home from work.
The original concept came from Melissa Clark’s excellent book (which if you haven’t gotten yet, please do – I can’t recommend it enough) – instead of sugar, frozen yogurt is sweetened with maple syrup – an idea both simple and yet totally genius. The second I read it, I wondered, Why didn’t I think of that?
I get this way with pretty much all of Melissa’s recipes – that instant urge to run to my kitchen and make whatever it is she just wrote about and the but of course! feeling.
So there I was, standing at my kitchen at the ready, dealing with a slight snag – I didn’t have enough frozen yogurt for the recipe and was too lazy to go out and get more. And yet – a miracle! -I rummaged around my fridge and found some sour cream on hand to make up for the difference in my yogurt shortfall. The result: not quite frozen yogurt, not quite ice cream, tasted delightfully autumnal – tangy with smoky maple undertones – and was gone in minutes.
It never ceases to amaze me how sometimes the simplest things often taste so incredible. And it stands to remind me that really amazing food is within our reach, no matter how busy and harried our lives can get, especially around this time of year. I take my solace in the kitchen. Somehow, amidst the craziness and noise, the kitchen is the one place where I can put everything in order. It’s my place of zen and my source of daily inspiration. Perhaps when I get back in there tomorrow, I’ll be once again in sync with the beat. I must say I’m looking forward to it.
Maple Frozen Yogurt
Adapted from In the Kitchen With a Good Appetite
Ingredients:
16 oz (1 pint) greek-style yogurt
8 oz sour cream (full-fat)
3/4 cups maple syrup, grade B preferable
Preparation:
Mix together the yogurt, the sour cream and the maple syrup. Stir until well combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour and then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
