It's not that we're giving the gorgeous Diana Henry the cold shoulder so early in our relationship at I Heart Cooking Clubs, but we are giving her a bit of a frosty reception this week. Yes, we're going "Icy Cold" and coming up with all manner of icy, chilled and frozen treats.
Now, I've told you before, I'm sure, that my dessert of choice pretty much any time of year is a frozen one, so I needed little encouragement to break the ice cream maker out of the cupboard and get churning. Since I love ice cream, and Diana has loads of ice cream and sorbet recipes in her repertoire, making a bit of frozen magic together seemed inevitable.
My favourite new cookbook, A Change of Appetite, offered lots of gorgeous sorbets which have now been bookmarked, but it was the Greek yoghurt and apricot ice cream that took my fancy.
When apricots are at the height of the season, I usually roast them in batches with a little butter and brown sugar. The butter and brown sugar more or less turns to caramel and the flavour of the apricots really intensifies. Then I freeze them in batches to use in ice creams and smoothies all year long.
In the original recipe Diana uses dried apricots and stews them in apple juice, before pureeing and mixing with the yoghurt. With summer (and apricot season) just around the corner, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up one of my remaining bags of roasted apricots. Diana recommends straining the pureed apricots, to avoid getting "bits" in the ice cream, but I'm personally a bit of a fan of the bits - it reminds me that I'm eating something with real fruit in it - so my apricots got a simple blitz with the food processor only.
When I made this Roasted Apricot Gelato, way back when, I didn't really think it could be improved on. But I can honestly say that this frozen yoghurt version is a distinct improvement. I love the slight tartness of the yoghurt with the richness of the roasted apricots. The yoghurt and creme fraiche provide all the creaminess you would normally get from a custard based ice cream, and is a whole lot quicker and easier to make. I also like to think that this is a healthier option than a regular ice cream - that may possibly be deluded, but I like to believe it.
Roasted Apricot Frozen Yoghurt Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Diana Henry
from A Change of Appetite
Click here for the free recipe card
6x medium-large fresh apricots
brown sugar
butter
400g (14 oz) Greek yoghurt
4 tablespoons creme fraiche
2 tablespoons runny honey
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F). Cut apricots in half - remove and discard the stones. Place apricots cut side up in an ovenproof dish that is just big enough to fit them quite snugly. Sprinkle each apricot half with a little brown sugar, and top each with a small knob of butter.
Place in hot oven and roast until the apricots have softened and started to collapse, and the sugar and butter have merged with the oozing fruit juices to become almost the consistency of caramel sauce.
This will take about 30 minutes, and it is helpful to baste the fruit with the juices half way through. Allow to cool completely then, using a food processor or stick blender, blitz to a puree.
Add yoghurt and creme fraiche to the apricot puree and blitz again until combined.
Churn the mixture in a ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instruction. Halfway through the churning process, drizzle in the honey. Serve straight away or freeze for a few hours to firm up.
If you would like to get to know Diana Henry a little better, and to see what everyone else has cooked up this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links (who knows, you might even want to join the journey and cook along with us) ...
... or check out A Change of Appetite and Diana's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.
I will also be submitting this post to Sweet New Zealand. Inspired by Alessandra Zecchini, and hosted this month by Lesley at eat, etc ..., Sweet New Zealand is an event for all Kiwi bloggers (whether living at home or abroad), or all foreign bloggers living in New Zealand, to link up their sweet treats.
Sue, I pinned this for next season. This looks so scrumptious.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Madonna - I know you will love this.
DeleteThis summer we had lots of fruity frozen yogurt too, but nothing as sophisticated as this. It looks so smooth and creamy, if not creamier than ice cream.
ReplyDeleteAngie, I don't know why I've never made much in the way of frozen yoghurts before - the results are so lovely and creamy, and it's so much easier than making a custard based ice cream. There is definitely going to be a lot of fruity frozen yoghurt coming up in the months ahead :-)
DeleteI love that book so much, and I've had this recipe bookmarked for ages! But I think your roasted apricots are an improvement!
ReplyDeleteIsn't is a gorgeous book, Alicia - I'm totally loving it. The flavour of the roasted apricots is really intense, and it's also such a great way of preserving peak season apricots to use all year round.
DeleteI haven't seen fresh apricots before. They are not readily available in tropical countries. Your ice cream looks so delicious!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joyce. Gosh isn't that funny. I always drool over all the beautiful tropical fruit that doesn't grow here, like mangoes, pineapple, papaya, and lychee. I've never thought too much before about people in tropical countries not getting lovely fruit that grows better in cool climates.
DeleteHi Sue,
ReplyDeleteI am just drooling over your fresh apricots, and your frozen yoghurt. Apricots are expensive over here and it will be a big treat if we could get any of it! Roasting the apricots with sugar and butter sounds delicious and using them in ice creams and frozen yoghurt sounds even more wonderful. Wish i could have some of your frozen yoghurt! Looks really, really, good!
Thanks, Joyce. Roasting the apricots really brings out the flavour in them. Using dried apricots though, as Diana does in the original recipe, is probably a more affordable option in your part of the world than buying fresh and probably offers the same intensity of flavour as roasting.
DeleteWhat book of hers would you recommend that I get?
ReplyDeleteHi Pam. For everyday deliciousness, I can highly recommend A Change of Appetite and I know you would really enjoy it. But for someone who I know loves interesting pickles, relishes, boozy fruits, alcohols, and so on, I think you would really love Salt, Sugar, Smoke - it has so many inspirational recipes, I know this book is going to get well used as the summer harvest looms.
DeleteI have to wait for apricot season, but I'll try that next year.
ReplyDeleteI promise it will be worth the wait :-)
DeleteI wish I'd thought to do that with apricots when they were available, then I could be enjoying this dessert now also! It sounds fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Zosia. I've been doing this every summer for the last couple of years now. So much easier than bottling stone fruit, and adds such intense flavour for ice creams and sorbets. I've also had success with doing this with peaches and nectarines as well.
DeleteHi Sue, love roasting veggies, I bet roasting fruits is just as delicious. Will have to pick up a copy of this cookbook. Have not yet tried my hand at making ice cream, this will have to be my next new thing. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI agree, Cheri - the process of roasting does for fruit exactly the same thing it does for vegetables. Making ice cream is fun and easy, and you know exactly what you're getting. I haven't bought ready-made ice cream for about three years now - I do hope you give it a try.
DeleteThe intense flavor of roasted apricots sounds so perfect to flavor frozen yogurt!! I'm definitely going to have to try this when apricots come into season here again!
ReplyDeleteJoanne I know you would love this - thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI am in love with the roasted apricots themselves but in a frozen yogurt they would be sublime! What a fabulous recipe. I need to make this. (As soon as I clear out my freezer enough to freeze the container of my ice cream maker!) ;-)
ReplyDelete