Avocado Frozen Yogurt

The first teeny buds are bravely peeping out of the cold, wet ground and I WANT SPRING. I know I may be jumping the gun a bit on ice cream-esque desserts, but if you can’t have spring sunshine on your shoulders, you should at least be able to put it in your mouth. Enter this lovely, pale green, sweet and creamy Avocado Frozen Yogurt.

This endeavour was borne of my recent Costco impulse buy: I gigantic bag of, you guessed it, avocados. And you know, as much fondness as I hold in my heart for guacamole, it turns out, there is such a thing as enough.

This frozen yogurt begins its journey as a sweet custard – the standard ice cream base of whole milk, sugar, and egg yolks. Yogurt is folded in, and then the whole thing is blended with ripe avocados. You should it expect it will all go swimmingly.

Unless you realize at a very crucial moment that you have misplaced the bit of plastic that holds your entire ice cream maker together. Then you must attempt to MacGyver a new part out of whittled chopsticks, crazy glue, and rubber bands, which will, of course, be a miserable FAIL, followed hopefully by a moment of redeeming brilliance wherein you prop a hand mixture over the otherwise useless frozen bowl that used to be an ice cream maker. And the world will be an okay place again. Phew.

Avocado Frozen Yogurt

Adapted from Fine Cooking magazine

• 2 cups whole milk
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tbsp finely grated lime zest
• 2 ripe avocadoes, pitted, peeled and cut in large chunks
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp lime juice

1. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and cold water, and setting a smaller bowl inside. Position a fine meshed strainer on top of the smaller bowl. Set aside.

2. In medium saucepan, combine milk and sugar, cooking over medium heat just until sugar dissolves and milk comes to a boil. Meanwhile, beat egg yolks in a medium-sized bowl. Temper the eggs by slowly adding 1 cup of the hot milk mixture to the yolks, whisking constantly.

3. Slowly pour yolk mixture into saucepan with remaining milk mixture, whisking constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5-8 minutes. Do not allow mixture to boil, or egg will curdle. Pour mixture through strainer into the smaller bowl in ice bath. Stir in the yogurt and zests, and stir continuously until cool.

4. In a blender or food processor, puree the avocado with 1 cup of the cooled custard, and the lemon and lime juices. Fold the avocado mixture back into the custard. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. Transfer frozen yogurt to a container, cover it, and place in freezer until frozen completely, about 4 hours.

Last Updated on February 17, 2011 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD