Cherry Lemon Frozen Yogurt

I got a gelato machine for Christmas and I was sooo excited to try it out!! Chris and I love frozen yogurt, but we are hooked on a particular tart flavor. If you've had Pinkberry or Golden Spoon's Simply Tart then you know what I am talking about. Also, when we went to Hong Kong, there was a gelato shop that carried a yogurt blackberry gelato. It might have been the 90 degree heat plus the 90% humidity, but we were totally addicted that week! The gelato ladies started to recognize us! We found a similar thing in Tucson at Frost Gelato. (If you have a chance to go, do not miss it!!) I don't know what causes the obsession, but it might be kind of like sweet and sour candy. It's really tart, but then sweet and it makes you just want more. In any case, I couldn't wait to see if I could recreate it. Of course, I always want to make it better, and I think I did...

So you start with 1 large container of strained greek yogurt. I tried this both with the fat-free variety and the 2% variety. The 2% gives you something more like gelato, whereas the fat-free version is more like classic frozen yogurt. Both are fantastic. This is nice to have on hand when you want to skip the step of thickening your ice cream or gelato base. No waiting!

I was lucky to find cherries at the store- hooray! Above any other fruit, they are by far my absolute favorite. You can use other things if you can find them, strawberries, blackberries, or raspberries would work well substituted here if you can't find cherries. I pitted the cherries and chopped them roughly, making sure to scrape all the yummy juice into the bowl and not lose it!

I'd say that I had about a cup of cherries once I finished. To that I added some meyer lemon zest and the juice. I used the zest of 2 lemons and the juice of one. Finally, I added 1/3 cup agave nectar, which is not only better than sugar, it takes a step out of the process. If you can't find it, or want to use sugar, make sure to melt it into a simple syrup first. The sugar won't dissolve in your ice cream and you don't want the grittiness of sugar in this dessert.Add the yogurt to the bowl, and stir to combine. Freeze in your ice cream maker for 30-40 minutes or until it reaches the desired consistency. Place the finished dessert in a plastic container (just save the one that the yogurt came in) and freeze in the freezer for an hour or so before eating to firm it up.
Scoop and enjoy. Totally addictive, yummy, and healthy. Really healthy for a dessert. ;)

If you don't have an ice cream machine, check out this to see other ways of making ice cream. Just takes a little elbow grease!