Try Something New Saturday (late): Ginger Frozen Yogurt With Chai Syrup!

Sorry, not a food photographer.

So, the ideas I had to try this week went pretty much flying out the proverbial window thanks to our old foe the stomach flu around here.  But, last night I was DETERMINED to at least get something accomplished when it came to trying SOMETHING new this week.  So, I decided to mess around with the two quarts of home made yogurt I'd made a couple of days before (this time I actually added an added cup of cream to the 1/2 gallon of milk I used and seriously it turned out like Brown Cow or other "cream on top" type of yogurt, but was thick enough to be greek style yogurt.  Awesome stuff!).

I used the recipe On Frugal Granola and just tweaked it by adding the cream this time.  It's a very easy recipe.  With the cold the way it is I put my 2 quarts in a cooler with some 1 pint mason jars filled with warm water around it and then sat it where I knew our forced air heat would blow some warm drafts its way (figured it couldn't hurt).  Don't put the lids on the jars and then just make sure your cooler lid will close and you're good to go doing that (don't want dust in your yogurt...that'd be icky).

So, staring at these two quarts of yogurt and knowing that we PROBABLY weren't going to be up for smoothies for a little bit and I'd already eaten two quarts of yogurt by myself (just mixed fruit with it and was eating it for breakfast) I tried to think of SOMETHING to do with this stuff so it wouldn't go bad on me (I have NO idea how long home made yogurt stays good for and didn't want to take a chance of it going bad on me...it was just too good).  So, I IMMEDIATELY turned to the idea of making frozen yogurt.

I came up with this recipe last night and tweaked it up this morning and oh my GOSH even out of the ice cream maker and with the syrup still warm (you'll quickly notice the melting patches of frozen yogurt around the edges) this stuff is just awesome!  So, here's my recipe for Ginger Frozen Yogurt with Chai Syrup.

Ginger Frozen Yogurt (makes about 1 pint)

• 1 1/2 Cups Greek Style Yogurt (I used home made of course)
• 1/4 Cup Sugar (I used Organic.  You can go up as high as 1/2 cup, depending on how sweet you want it)
• 1/4 cup Ginger Syrup
• 2 TBS to 1/4 Cup Candied Ginger, chopped fine (depending on how much you like your ginger.  I used 1/4 cup :).
• 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream (to compensate for the ginger syrup, but you could honestly also just add more yogurt if you'd like...I needed mine for another recipe I'm working on :).

Directions:

1.  Freeze your ice cream maker core according to manufacturer directions.  I always freeze my paddle too, just to be sure everything is freezing cold when I'm ready to put everything together.

2.  If you are making your ginger syrup from scratch, do so and let it cool on your stovetop before starting ANYTHING as you are going to have to make this stuff COLD to set up your frozen yogurt :).  You could safely cut down the amount of sugar in the ginger syrup recipe by about 1/4 on this one if you're not planning on canning the rest of the syrup when you are done (I had to battle the sweetness a few times to get it to work right).

3.  Combine yogurt, cream, ginger syrup and sugar in a bowl and mix well to combine.  Put in fridge for at LEAST 45 minutes to get cold (I put mine in for an hour).

4.  Once well chilled pour your mixture into your running ice cream maker (remember to ALWAYS start your ice cream maker before adding anything or you are going to have a bad day).  Prepare according to your ice cream maker directions (honestly I just eyeball mine anymore as I know when mine is ready...it takes mine about 20 minutes to get done).  When the frozen yogurt is looking like a nice soft serve ice cream consistency add your finely chopped candied ginger.  Do this slowly or you will seize up your machine.  I pour like 1 tsp in at a time and wait for it to get well incorporated before adding the next bit.

5.  When done you can serve immediately or put into freezer.  I'm not sure how hard this will get, usually it sets up harder than ice cream, but still scoopable, but it sure is tasty :).  Serve with Chai Syrup.

And here is the part that just...oh my goodness TOTALLY makes the recipe ever loving awesome!

Chai Syrup

• 1 3/4 Cups Ginger Syrup (I literally just used the rest of my pint jar I had, so that's where the odd measurement comes from).
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom (if you don't have cardamom you could honestly leave it out and add a bit of nutmeg or other spice...it's pretty spendy to buy).
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract 
• Dash of Nutmeg 

Directions:

1.  Add spices to ginger syrup in small saucepan and whisk well to combine.  Heat to boiling and reduce heat to a simmer.

2.  Simmer until volume is reduced by about 1/2.

3.  Turn off heat and let sit until cool.  Serve with Ginger Frozen Yogurt. Will keep for 1 to 2 months in fridge (check for funky smells and mold before each use).

Ideally, if you have whole spices this would work WAY better as you could literally add them to the syrup and then steep them in it, thus stopping any graininess issues and getting the most out of your spices.  Here's the recipe for that if you have them...

 Chai Syrup With Whole Spices:

• 1 3/4 Cups Ginger Syrup
• 1 Cinnamon Stick (about 2 inches long)
• 4 Whole Cloves
• 2 Cardamom Pods
• 1 Vanilla Bean (about 4 to 6 inches long, cut into 1 inch pieces)
• 1 Dash Fresh Grated Nutmeg

1.  Combine in a pan with the ginger syrup and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.

2.  Turn off heat and let sit at least 1 hour to steep.  Strain out spices.

3.  Bring back to boil and boil until about reduced 1/2 in volume.

4.  Let cool and serve with Ginger Frozen Yogurt.  Will keep for about 1 to 2 months in the fridge (always check for funky smells and mold before use)

I would have added the tea to the mix, but I was worried it would start to taste bitter when you reduced the syrup down, so I didn't want to chance it.

You could also,  probably use a Chai Syrup mix, such as Oregon Chai or something for a topping, but I like this better as you know what is in it (you could even sub out the 1/4 cup ginger syrup in the frozen yogurt for the chai syrup and make yourself some chai frozen yogurt too, I suppose :).

If you want to thicken the syrup up (since it still is pretty thin) you can add a couple of tablespoons of heavy cream to the syrup, or some milk or milk alternative or something I'm sure to help thicken it up a bit.  Just a thought.  Personally I thought it was awesome just the way it was :).

Enjoy all!