Al Dente Frozen: Mixed berry frozen Greek yogurt

Let’s talk about Christmas for a second. The haul was nice. I restocked the closet at L.L. Bean, added some new Under Armour to the arsenal and got a new iPhone dock/alarm clock. The big news, though, was the addition of two items to the kitchen: a panini press and an ice cream maker.

Cuisinart’s ice cream maker is pretty nifty and simple to use. Freeze the bowl. Mix the cream/sugar blend. Assemble and start the mixer. Add the cream. Mix for 15 to 20 minutes. Add any other stuff. Freeze. I’m simplifying of course, but my first outing — coffee toffee pretzel ice cream — was basically that. I mixed a double shot of espresso from Starbucks with some instant espresso powder, then whisked together in a vanilla ice cream base (heavy cream, sugar, 1% milk). About five minutes before I was done mixing, I tossed in the toffee and pretzels. Done.

The inlaws like frozen yogurt, so I thought something made with Greek yogurt would work for dessert when they came over for dinner last weekend. I had mixed berries in the freezer, so all I needed was a container of plain yogurt to make this happen. I used frozen because, well, it’s January. Berries are not in season. Plus, you will macerate the berries anyhow, so fresh really doesn’t matter here. Being frozen helps keep them from falling apart on the stove.