Chocolate Frozen Yogurt

In the summer, I have a tendency to keep the bowl for my ice cream machine in the freezer as often as possible. This allows me to make ice cream as soon as the urge hits. Which happened late at night this past week. It was too hot in the house to even consider turning on the oven, and a popsicle or smoothie wasn't going to cut this craving. The fro-yo place closest by was already closed, and I knew it was time to learn to make it myself. I made chocolate, because that was the ingredient that I had on hand. But I am going to make it again with fruit (Raspberry with dark chocolate chunks?! Top of the to-do list).
I have been trying to eat a little less sugar at home while my recipe development at work is at a recent high. I have been working on a new gluten free product line, and while that's really exciting, it has led to several stomach aches from constantly nibbling on cookies and quick breads that I am in the process of tweaking. So this recipe has just enough sugar to take the bitter edge off the yogurt, but not enough to give you a sugar buzz.


Chocolate Frozen Yogurt
makes 1 quart

1 cup almond milk
9 ounces chocolate (I used Agostoni Gianduia)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups yogurt (I used Amande almond yogurt)

In a small pan combine almond milk, chocolate, and sugar. On medium heat, stir frequently until the mixture is totally melted and smooth. Allow to cool several minutes and whisk into the yogurt. Chill batter before adding to your ice cream machine, freezing as directed.
If it is the middle of the night and you need your frozen yogurt now, then you could take a shortcut by simply throwing the almond milk, chocolate, and sugar in your blender and pureeing until as smooth as possible. Then you could add the yogurt and pulse is briefly before throwing this mixture directly into your ice cream machine. It will not be as smooth as the melted version, but you will save an hour or two & the little chocolate chunks you end up with aren't so bad. Not that I know from experience.

I used an unflavored almond yogurt which tastes much less sweet to me than the coconut yogurt I normally eat for breakfast. If you opt to use coconut yogurt in your fro-yo, you might not need to add any sugar at all. It's all about personal preference, but I like mine fairly tart. Also the chocolate that I used is hazelnut flavored, which lends a bit more kick to the yogurt. I am sure that it would be equally delicious with plain dark chocolate, but you could add some chopped hazelnuts to replicate the flavor I enjoyed & add a bit of texture. If it hadn't been near midnight when I was making this, I probably would have stirred in a few teaspoons of instant coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor.