Here it is June already, warmer weather in many places, not exactly warm here in SF (65° + blustery Pacific winds = cold) but no reason not to try out some frozen yogurt. I found a couple recipes, here and here, both of which referenced David Lebovitz Perfect Scoop book, so I figured this might be a good start for my first frozen yogurt, I've made ice cream before but making frozen yogurt is new to me.

And with the arrival of apricots in the market I thought it would make a good dessert. The apricots were sweet, but not really really sweet, so I poached them in advance with honey to get the full flavor to come through. And then later added some of the poaching liquid to the yogurt.

But I gotta say overall this recipe is very tart, maybe too tart, I may not have used enough sugar so I made a note of that in the recipe, but I did use the same yogurt-sugar ratio as the 2 identical recipes, only the fruit changed. And I sweetened the apricots in the poaching process, so I'm still befuddled about the extreme tang. It might have been due to the fact that I used 2% Chobani yogurt*, and the original recipe called for whole milk yogurt, so that may have had an impact on the outcome. Whole milk yogurt is definitely creamier, so I'll have to give this another shot some time and compare it to the 2% vs. whole milk.

101 cookbooks actually thought it was too much sugar, and Deb at smitten kitchen was so delighted with the outcome that there was no need to ever try Pinkberry! But then she did add coconut milk, but it was unsweetened. hmmm, I tend to go for low key sugar desserts but I haven't quite figured this out.

The photos were a challenge as expected with ice cream, work quickly, keep everything frozen until ready to click the shutter, but this stuff freezes rock solid! and I couldn't get a proper scoop out yesterday for my intended photoshoot, so today I let it sit for an entire hour before scooping for the shoot, and I was probably off by 15 minutes or so, but miraculously I got something resembling a scoop.

Recipe below. Enjoy!

*Full disclosure: I received some complimentary yogurt from Chobani, I wasn't paid or asked to review it, but I had it and wanted to use it in some recipes. And I find it's helpful to know how different brands can vary and sometimes make a difference and sometimes no difference at all. I think here using 2% vs. whole milk might have been a factor.

Apricot Frozen Yogurt
(adapted from David Lebovitz Perfect Scoop via smitten kitchen and 101cookbooks)

5 apricots diced, yields about 2 cups
1 cup water
1 tablespoon honey
3 cups greek yogurt
3/4 cup sugar*
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup poached apricot liquid

Poach the apricots: Place diced apricots, 1 cup water and 1 tablespoon honey in medium size pan, bring to boil, simmer 1 minute or so, apricots should be fragrant and tender. Remove pan from stove and let apricots and liquid cool in pan.

In a blender combine the yogurt, 1/2 cup of the poached apricots, 1/2 cup of the poaching liquid, sugar and vanilla. Blend until combined (about a minute in a Vitamix).

Pour liquid into a container and stir in remaining apricots (apricots strained, if you have left over liquid you can save for another use) Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

*or more if you like it sweeter