Avocado Frozen Yogurt

Thursday, February 17, 2011 12 Comments

DSC 0547 Avocado Frozen Yogurt

The first teeny buds are bravely peeping out of the cold, wet ground and I WANT SPRING. I know I may be jumping the gun a bit on ice cream-esque desserts, but if you can’t have spring sunshine on your shoulders, you should at least be able to put it in your mouth. Enter this lovely, pale green, sweet and creamy Avocado Frozen Yogurt.

This endeavour was borne of my recent Costco impulse buy: I gigantic bag of, you guessed it, avocados. And you know, as much fondness as I hold in my heart for guacamole, it turns out, there is such a thing as enough.

DSC 0566 Avocado Frozen Yogurt

This frozen yogurt begins its journey as a sweet custard – the standard ice cream base of whole milk, sugar, and egg yolks. Yogurt is folded in, and then the whole thing is blended with ripe avocados. You should it expect it will all go swimmingly.

Unless you realize at a very crucial moment that you have misplaced the bit of plastic that holds your entire ice cream maker together. Then you must attempt to MacGyver a new part out of whittled chopsticks, crazy glue, and rubber bands, which will, of course, be a miserable FAIL, followed hopefully by a moment of redeeming brilliance wherein you prop a hand mixture over the otherwise useless frozen bowl that used to be an ice cream maker. And the world will be an okay place again. Phew.

DSC 0590 Avocado Frozen Yogurt

Avocado Frozen Yogurt

Adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

  • 2 cups whole milk
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 4 large egg yolks
  • 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
  • 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp finely grated lime zest
  • 2 ripe avocadoes, pitted, peeled and cut in large chunks
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp lime juice

1. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and cold water, and setting a smaller bowl inside. Position a fine meshed strainer on top of the smaller bowl. Set aside.

2. In medium saucepan, combine milk and sugar, cooking over medium heat just until sugar dissolves and milk comes to a boil. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Temper the eggs by slowly adding 1 cup of the hot milk mixture to the yolks, whisking constantly.

3. Slowly pour yolk mixture into saucepan with remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes. Do not allow mixture to boil, or egg will curdle. Pour mixture through strainer into the smaller bowl in ice bath. Stir in the yogurt and zests, and stir continuously until cool.

4. In a blender or food processor, puree the avocado with 1 cup of the cooled custard, and the lemon and lime juices. Fold the avocado mixture back into the custard. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer frozen yogurt to a container, cover it, and place in freezer until frozen completely, about 4 hours.

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  • http://oneordinaryday.wordpress.com/ Michelle

    That last shot is AWESOME! What an interesting idea for a frozen treat.
    I’m with you – Spring cannot get here fast enough!

    • Anonymous

      Thanks Michelle. Yay, Spring!

  • http://www.journeykitchen.com Kulsum

    I so want to try this!!

  • http://huntingfortheverybest.wordpress.com Dina

    ooh that looks good!

  • Evan @finecooking

    this recipe is awesome. It’s part of the Fine Cooking article called “Big Buy,” which is all about using up a bulk purchase of an ingredient from a warehouse store. The avocado one was by far my favorite to test, recipe-wise :)

    • Anonymous

      I agree, it’s awesome. Nice to “meet” the original recipe tester himself!!

      • Evan Barbour

        Just saw your response now! Yes, it’s very nice! We always love to see our recipes put to the test on the blogs. Yours came out beautifully.

  • http://www.jumboempanadas.blogspot.com Brilynn

    I love avocados and I’m all about anything that makes it feel like spring sooner!

  • http://ecohousewifeinalberta.blogspot.com Aubrey

    Oh man- I lost the stupid plastic thing on my ice cream maker too! I managed to make something out of a sawed off chopstick and some electrical tape-it worked until the ice cream started thickening-grrr!!! I find it hilarious that your MacGyver attempt was so similat to mine. So I am waiting to hear if I can get a replacement from the company. Why do they make things with tiny parts we lose so easily?

    • Anonymous

      That’s too funny! Desperate foodies think alike. My propped-up hand mixer worked perfectly, if you’ve got one of those…

      I think the companies make the parts so lose-able so that we have to buy another one!

  • http://kitchendeavor.wordpress.com/ Molly

    Oh my… I keep running into recipes on your blog that I’m dying to try. I hope you don’t mind that I’ve posted a link to your blog on mine. Keep the good stuff coming!
    Molly, kitchendeavor.wordpress.com