Yo! Cinnamon Fro Yo!

I guess that wasn't the most creative of names, but I am trying! I had this yogurt that I made my Donvier yogurt maker that was just not the right consistency so I thought to make it into frozen yogurt. Perfect idea. I didn't waste the yogurt and made a fairly healthy treat of cinnamon frozen yogurt (see right), that even my husband liked!

I used the recipe from Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Ice Cream Book for Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, but altered it a bit to my liking. My yogurt was a little sour (yogurt is more sour the longer you "cook" it and even with the added sugar and the two tablespoons of vanilla, this recipe was a little too sour for my liking. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and voila! it was just to my liking! The other little change was I replaced the light cream with a mixture of 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 cup skim milk. With the skim yogurt I had made, this recipe was pretty light and some what healthy, as far as ice cream goes -- and the texture was pretty creamy as well. Yes, I am of the belief (just like Tina) that ice cream is ice cream and one shouldn't cut corners on the fat or sweeteners, but in my case I had to use what I had in my house (it was late and I didn't feel like going to the store) so I experimented and I'd say it came out pretty well!

Bruce Weinstein (of the UltimateCook website) is one of my favorite ice cream book authors -- his book is full of diverse recipes and each recipe is followed by a plethora of variations. My husband loves peanut butter, so we are also a big fan of The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book.

On another note, I had little bit of a fun experiment last week. I wanted to draw ice cream at the studio last week. I bought an Haagan Daz Vanilla and Almonds Ice Cream Bar at the store next door but soon realized that I had to run out and that I wouldn't be able to draw the ice cream bar before I left. Luckily living recent weather has dumped a lot of snow in New England and I decided to bury the ice cream (box, wrapper and all) in the snow. When I came back four hours later I had about a half an hour of drawing time! (The drawing wasn't worth showing!) In addition to the snow freezer I made, I am sure the chocolate shell kept the ice cream a bit in tact too, because as soon as I cracked the shell, the ice cream was a soupy mess...Long story short, snow makes a good freezer in a pinch, though I am sure our ancestors figured this out well before I did!