RECIPE: Mango Basil Frozen Yogurt

My parents were swinging through the DC area on their return trip from Florida to Connecticut for the summer. Knowing me, my parents arrived with a ton of fruit including five mangos. I love mangos, but they were all in the same stage of ripeness, which meant, unless I ate until I was sick, I was over my head in fruit. So, instead, I decided to make a mango frozen yogurt. It was smooth and creamy, not overly sweet, and super easy to make, with a few additional perks. It is sure to be a hit with my three year old niece.

This mango frozen yogurt involves a minimum of ingredients, but it does require a blender and ice cream maker. Although, if you don’t have an ice cream maker, I’ve been told you can do the same think with a quart and a ½ gallon size zippered freezer bags. Pour the mixture into the quart bag and place it in the ½ gallon bag and fill it with ice and rock salt. Then shake until it is the same consistency as out of the machine. For this recipe and taste, I would suggest giving it a try. Or packing it up for a picnic and making your frozen yogurt on location. Hmmm…that gives me a summer date idea. If you hike, or just walk with this in your backpack, by the time you get to your location, you have soft frozen yogurt.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

2 very ripe mangos, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
8 medium sized basil leaves
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup water
¾ cup Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Place water, powdered sugar, and basil leaves into a pot, bring to a boil and then remove from heat and allow it to cool. This is just making a basil simple syrup. You won’t use it all for this recipe, unless you want the frozen yogurt super sweet, but you will find other uses for the syrup before the summer is through. I add it to iced tea, on top of strawberry shortcake, with fresh fruit, on waffles. Let just say this is a two for one recipe.

2. While the syrup is cooling, cut the mango from the pit and skin. You should end up with about three (3) cups of fresh mango. Do this over a bowl because if the mangos are ripe, they will be very juicy and get everywhere.

3. Add juice from lime, ½ cup of the simple syrup [or to taste] and blend until mostly smooth.

4. Stir in Greek yogurt and place in the refrigerator for at least two hours so it is super cold.
5. Place into ice cream maker and turn on. Should take no more than 30 minutes.
6. Allow to harden up in the freezer for at least two hours.
7. Serve and garnish with fresh basil leaves.