Really, really good homemade frogurt!

When I was a child at River Hills Country Club, they use to serve this amazing frozen concoction, which they referred to as frogurt. I never knew what it was except that it was this fabulous tart, sweet soft serve ice cream, lemon was my favorite. The frogurt machine was habitually out of service and then it just disappeared all together, but I always longed for that incredible soft serve. Since then, frozen yogurt was everywhere, but it tasted…like ice cream, and it wasn’t as good. Last year we were living in Shreveport, LA temporarily. I was pregnant with an 18 month old, starving, desperately looking for some sort of drive thru fare that would be healthy and I didn’t have to drag the baby out of the car. I spotted a little yogurt place, Counter Culture, with…a drive thru. I ordered the special which had granola, yogurt, honey and fresh fruit, perfect! It looked great. Not only did it look great, but I took a big bite, and it was…frogurt. The frogurt of my childhood, the tart, sweet, creamy, frogurt. I had found it, I knew it was too good to disappear forever. Since I discovered Counter Culture, I have noticed that old school frogurt has become a new food trend, they’re like cupcake shops! Popping up everywhere, pure culture, pinkberry, etc. If you haven’t tried it, get some, but better yet, make your own, it’s really expensive at the trendy yogurt shop.

Frogurt
2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups cream
1 packet yogurt starter
1/8 cup good quality local honey
½ cup sugar

Place a small amount of milk in a dish and allow it to come to room temperature, stir yogurt starter into room temperature milk or allow one ½ cup serving of plain yogurt to come to room temperature . Bring the 2 cups of milk and 2 cups of cream to 180, remove from heat and put in a cold water bath. Add milk with starter or room temperature yogurt to milk and cream when mixture is between 108-112. Pour milk mixture into cups and put in yogurt maker for 14 hours (I always fill one cup with ½ cup serving to use as a sterter in the next batch). In a saucepan combine. ½ cup of cream, 1/8 cup honey and ½ cup of sugar cook over medium low until the sugar dissolves, cool mixture (I put it in an ice bath) when mixture cools to less than 108 degrees add it to your yogurt to taste, depending on how sweet you like it. I served mine topped with plums and honey and a warm, homemade oatmeal cookie.

Cooks Notes: I used milk and cream but you can make yogurt with lowfat milk, I am pretty sure that your lowfat yogurt would freeze. I can’t wait to try goat’s milk. I just made another batch, this time with milk and half and half, but if you are looking for an incredibly creamy frogurt that will keep your friends out of the line at Pinkberry, go with the cream and milk.
Play with your flavors. For chocolate, pour the hot cream over chocolate stir until the chocolate melts, cool to 108 and add to frogurt mixture. Chocolate disguises the tart, sweet taste though. I am trying lemon next, I am going to omit the honey in the hot cream sugar mixture and add lemon juice. Hopefully, it will taste just like it did...when I was eight!