Recipe: Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt

Frozen yogurt is not ice cream. (It’s not even a substitute, no matter what TCBY says.) It’s another dessert entirely, and when we stop comparing it to its richer cousin, we enjoy it way more. This one is just about the best I’ve ever made, and it’s so, so easy.

The extremely sweet, extremely juicy peaches that had been ripening on my countertop may have helped out quite a bit with that “best I’ve ever made” announcement. I didn’t need much sugar — or really, much of anything — to turn them into a beautiful, creamy dessert. And because you aren’t cooking a custard, you can be ready to pour the mix into your ice cream maker in about 10 minutes.

I followed David Lebovitz‘s advice to use whole milk yogurt (still healthier than heavy cream), and if I hadn’t been fresh out of vodka, I would have put in a couple of tablespoons as David suggests. Apparently it can help frozen yogurt stay creamy, rather than icy, but I’ll have to find out in the next batch.

I will say that this stuff is great right out of the ice cream maker after churning — soft, fluffy, melt-in-your-mouth dreamy. If you do want it a little harder, put it in the freezer for an hour or two, then serve. If you freeze it for longer, allow some time to let it soften on the counter before you serve it because the yogurt can get quite hard.

This is one of the recipes that falls into the category of “the end result is way more than the sum of its parts.” There are four simple ingredients that are each pretty good on their own (I mean, how do you beat super-fresh summer peaches?) — but when combined together, they create a marvelous and utterly refreshing, guilt-free dessert.

I’ve been hitting the ice cream pretty hard this summer, so I’m thrilled to have a healthier alternative. This frozen yogurt is subtly sweet and has a more firm texture than ice cream (remember, it lacks the fat content from the cream). Best of all, it’s cool and refreshing, and to me tastes just like summer.

– Kelli, August 2015