Apricot Ginger and Sugared Almond Frozen Yogurt

This recipe is my entry for the June Royal Foodie Joust at the Leftover Queen Forum, hosted by Jen. Last month's winner, Erin at The Skinny Gourmet chose apricot, ginger and butter as the ingredients to be used this month. You can go to the forum and see all the entries for this months challenge. We have until the first of July to post and then a few days to vote for the winner. The recipes entered every month are so diversified. My new ice cream machine was my inspiration this month. I wanted to have a salty, sweet, sour and cold treat, as well as try my hand at making frozen yogurt. The sweet and salty sugared almonds balance out the tartness of the yogurt and apricots. My recipe calls for vodka as the puree liquid for the fruit, but you could substitute any citrus juice. I found the recipe for the sugared almonds at About.com I went to Nutritiondata.com and entered the ingredients. For this recipe, serving 8 1/2 cup servings, the calories per serving are 162 with 3.5 grams of fat. Not only is this a tasty treat, it's also a healthier alternative to high fat ice cream. I also like the fact that I know what is going into my food and what is not, lots of chemical preservatives. I also used organic yogurt and milk. Wish me luck!

Apricot Ginger and Sugared Almond Frozen Yogurt

For the almonds

1 cup whole blanched almonds
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt, I used Kosher Flake Salt

Heat almonds, sugar and butter in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until almonds are toasted and sugar is a golden brown, about 15 minutes. At first the mixture will seem grainy, just keep stirring and it will come together. This is not the time to be doing anything else, keep with it. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla. Spread on aluminum foil (I used my silpat); sprinkle with salt. Cool and break up into clusters. Chop about 1/2 cup into small pieces for the frozen yogurt and reserve the remainder for garnish.
Note: This stuff is addicting, hide it from all others or it will disappear!

















For the yogurt

1 1/2 cup organic lowfat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup organic whole milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cup chopped apricots (about 1/2 #)
1/4 cup vodka
1/2 cup chopped sugared almonds
1/2 cup diced apricot

Combine the yogurt, milk, sugar and ginger in a medium bowl or 4 cup glass measure. Stir to combine until the sugar has dissolved.

Puree the 2 cups of apricots and the vodka in the food processor.


Add the puree to the yogurt mixture and stir to combine well. At this point you can freeze according to the machine directions, or refrigerate until later.

When the mixture is about 5 minutes from being completely done in the machine, add the almonds and the 1/2 cup of diced apricots.

You can serve this right out of the machine as a very creamy, soft serve, or transfer to a container and freeze at least 1 hour. The frozen yogurt will need to sit out about 10-15 minutes after it has frozen hard to soften up enough to serve. Garnish with apricot slices and clusters of the sugared almonds!

Nice soft and creamy out of the machine, don't you just want to lick your screen right now!