Cookistry: Cherry Mosto Cotto and Berry Frozen Yogurt(ish)

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Cherry Mosto Cotto and Berry Frozen Yogurt(ish)

Today's event is being hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Jen of Juanita's Cocina. They teamed up with their blogger friends to help raise awareness and support for Cancer and Hospice today in memory of Kim's dad. We encourage everyone to read the posts and share their own experiences with cancer.

We also would like to encourage everyone to donate to the Canadian Cancer Society, the American Cancer Society and also to the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association.

Hospice was a key element during Kim's father's battle with cancer. They made it possible for Kim to care for him at home. So please show your support and donate if you can. You can also contact your local Hospice and donate directly to them if you wish. A little goes a long way!

My first brush with cancer was when I was in high school, and my best friend's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. It rocked my world. I always thought that my friend's home life was as close to Leave it to Beaver as anyone's could be. Her mom reminded of June Cleaver, with my girlfriend playing the part of a female Wally, and her little brother playing the part of Beaver.

I'm not sure what part I played, but I spent a lot of time at that house, wishing I could steal my friend's mom.

So when someone so ... wonderful ... got so sick, it simply didn't seem fair to me.

What recipe does one pull out of a hat to honor my friend's mother, Kim's dad, and my own father (since it is Father's Day, after all?)

I decided on this ice cream. It's sort-of pink, which is a cancer-awarness color. And ice cream was one of my dad's favorite treats. He didn't go crazy for cake, pie or cookies (although he wouldn't refuse them, either) but I can remember going to the store with him when pints of ice cream were on sale, or him sending me to the drugstore for two ice cream cones - one for him, and one for me.

The recipe I made isn't a traditional ice cream, since it has quite a bit of yogurt in in. But it's not entirely frozen yogurt, either, because I added cream.

You decide what it is. I'm just going to say it's good. Really, really good.

Let's make some dessert!

So, this didn't start off being a planned recipe. This started off being some strawberry Greek yogurt that I wanted to use up, to make some room in the fridge.

It went like this.

1 1/2 cups of strawberry Greek yogurt into a measuring cup. Hmmm. Not quite enough. But that's all I had of the strawberry.

I added 1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt. Okay, now I've got 2 cups, but that was all lowfat stuff, and I figured that I needed some fat in it or it would be too icy when it froze. So I added 1 cup of heavy cream. And I tasted it and decided I wanted it sweeter. So in went 1/2 cup of sugar, plus a generous pinch of salt. Maybe 1/2 teaspoon of the salt.

Then what? Ponder, ponder ... think-think-think. Hmmmm.

I was going to add vanilla, but then I remembered the vanilla rum. Or, really, it's a bottle of rum that I stuff vanilla bean pods into whenever I have a partially-used vanilla bean. It's not quite vanilla-extract strength, but it's a very-vanilla rum.

Two tablespoons of the rum went in.

And then I tasted it.

Well, hmmm... the berry flavor was very muted. Now what?

Rummage - rummage - rummage. I was thinking raspberry would be good, and I thought I had a raspberry syrup. But it was actually pomegranate. Hmmm. Maybe, maybe not. What else?

I was going to paw through the extracts and see what might work. But then I remembered the bottle of Cherry Mosto Cotto syrup I had in the pantry. Hmmm. Hmmhmmmmhmm. I tasted it. Like sweetened tart pie cherries, if that makes any sense. A very deep, rich flavor.

Yes! That would work.

I added one tablespoon of the Mosto Cotto and tasted. Oh, yes, now we're getting somewhere. Then I added another tablespoon and tasted again and started making that om-nom-nom sound that means I've got something special going on.

And then the whole shebang went into the ice cream maker. Oh yeah! Churn, baby, churn!

The texture of this was nice right out of the ice cream maker and the flavor was great. Highly recommended. Since the Mosto Cotto added so much flavor, you could mess around with the yogurt flavors a bit to customize this. I'm thinking blueberry would be good. Or any fruit flavor, really. Or vanilla.

You could also use a plain, unflavored Greek yogurt, but then you'd need more sugar, since the flavored yogurts tend to be sweetened.

Cherry Mosto Cotto and Berry Frozen Yogurt(ish)

1 1/2 cups strawberry Greek yogurt
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons vanilla rum
2 tablespoons cherry mosto cotto

Combine everything in a suitable container and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Pour into your ice cream maker and churn according to the manufacturer's directions.

Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

Yum. Spoon. Eat.

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