DYI dessert: Mango, White Peach & Crystallized Ginger Frozen Yogurt

One of the coolest things about having a twin sister is that you get to share friends. What does this have to do with a recipe for Mango, White Peach & Crystallized Ginger Frozen Yogurt?

Well, Anna introduced me to her friend Erica about 3 years ago. We took a trip to Montreal together and had a great time. All of us love food, fashion exhibits at museums, botanical gardens, etc. When Erica moved to DC about a year ago, we got to know each other a little bit better.

One of the facts that Erica found out about me is that I like red appliances :) So a few weeks ago she emailed me asking if I'd like to have her 1.5 quart ice cream maker because it's red and because her husband encouraged her to de-hoard and make room in their apartment for their baby!!!

I thought about it and said YES.

And then I started thinking: what should I make in the ice cream maker? After spending some time browsing Jessica's Frozen Fix site, I decided I simply must make something with a mango.

But that would be slightly boring. I decided to add a white peach (because they were on sale at the grocery store) and crystallized ginger (because I had some in my pantry and thought it'd add a nice texture contrast). I used this recipe as a template, but changed a few things to fit my taste.


Mango, White Peach & Crystallized Ginger Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients
1 champagne mango, peeled {roughly chop 1/2 of the mango and nicely dice the other 1/2}
1 white peach, peeled, roughly chopped
32 ounces plain yogurt, drained over night
1-2 tablespoons chopped crystallized ginger
{Note: Jessica used sugar in her recipe, but I thought mine was sweet enough without it}

Directions
1. In a blender, puree 1/2 of the mango, the white peach and the drained yogurt.

2. Add the mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's directions. I churned mine for about 15 minutes and when the mixture was getting pretty solid, added the nicely diced half of the mango and crystallized ginger and churned the yogurt for another 5 minutes.

3. Transfer the frozen yogurt to a glass container and put it in your freezer.

If you look at the photo above (the one on the right), you'll see that some of the yogurt got pretty stuck to the inside of the bucket. I just let it melt and ate it with a spoon: it was incredibly good. And the color! Seriously gorgeous. I loved the bright orange chunks of champagne mango in an otherwise orangey-yellow yogurt. And the bursts of crystallized ginger added a bit of spice to this mild yogurt.

So it looked and tasted great. And it was incredibly simple to make. The only problem? It was too frozen. Is that possible? I had to let the yogurt sit out for about 10 minutes before being able to scoop it out. My friends gave me a few possible reasons for that:

1) My yogurt did not have enough fat in it
2) I really should have used sugar because it helps with the chemical process of making frozen concoctions
3) I should try liquid glucose

What do you think?

Also, please notice my DYI white-washed board I will now be using as my background. Huge thanks to Cindy and her family for taking me to Home Depot to get supplies for this project and to Lori of Recipe Girl for the inspiration.