I did a bunch of crazy things last weekend that included attending a “Winter Tops and Summer Shorts” theme party. That’s right sweaters and shorts during the season of the polar vortex, it was an absolutely insane idea by my friend Alex but also one of the funnest parties, I’ve been to in a while.
I figured if that can happen, frozen sweet foods can happen too and should. So here I am with a delicious rich and creamy chocolate yogurt recipe that has chili in it to keep you warm. I used a dried ancho chili powder which is basically a dried up poblano pepper. The dash of chili adds a hint of smoky sweetness to the dark chocolate which really enhanced the flavors.
I adapted and modified the basic frozen yogurt recipe from my all time favorite frozen dessert cookbook,
Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home
.
chocolate and chili frozen yogurt
yields:
1 generous quart
ingredients
1 quart (32 ounces) plain low-fat greek yogurt
2 tablespoons + 1 1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour)
2 ounces (4 tablespoons) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa
1/4 teaspoon ancho chili powder
1/4 cup light corn syrup (I use fructose free light corn syrup which is a glucose solution and does not contain fructose but you could use glucose as well)
2/3 cup (5 1/4 ounces) raw brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Place the yogurt in a sieve lined with two layers of clean cheese cloth or muslin. Allow the yogurt to drain for 2 hours in the refrigerator. You will get about 3/4 cup of liquid. Discard the liquid and keep the yogurt aside (or you can add to baked goods for a little extra nutrition).
2. Whisk the two tablespoons of milk with the cornstarch to form a slurry and keep aside.
3. Place the cream cheese in a large glass mixing bowl.
4. In a thick bottomed saucepan, whisk the 1 1/2 cups of milk, heavy cream, cocoa, chili, corn syrup and sugar. Bring the contents to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly whisk in the cornstarch-milk slurry.
5. Place the saucepan on the stove and bring it back to a boil on medium-high heat and cook for 1 minute until slightly thickened.
6. Gradually add a little bit of the hot liquid from the saucepan into the glass mixing bowl containing the cream cheese. Whisk until completely smooth. Add the rest of the hot liquid and vanilla and whisk until the contents are completely blended. Mix in the strained yogurt from step 1. (You can also pass this liquid through a sieve to make sure any clumps or lumps are removed).
7. Transfer the yogurt mixture to a gallon ziploc freezer bag. Seal the bag and place in an ice water bath and cool for 30 minutes or until the internal temperature is 40F.
8. Pour the liquid into the frozen canister of your ice cream maker and churn until the liquid becomes thick and creamy. (Alternatively, follow the instructions written in the manual of your ice cream maker for brand specific instructions).
9. Pack the frozen yogurt into a freezer-safe storage container with an airtight lid. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and press gently to remove any trapped air. Seal the container with the lid and freeze the yogurt for 4 hours or until firm before serving.
22 Responses
Divine! That flavor combo is awesome.
Cheers,
Rosa
Ice cream in the winter is always a good idea. Your frozen yogurt looks amazing! 🙂
that sounds like a fun party…I have been wanting to make homemade icecream but dont have a icecream maker..but I am going to attempt it using your recipe as a base. I will update you on that.
My husband had the same inspiration this week and wants to make a heated up chocolate ice cream. Yours looks delicious. And I love Greek yogurt so this must be decadent.
Now that's a fun way to cheer up the gloomy winter days, sweater and shorts huh! 🙂 And then followed by the frozen yogurt with a hint of kick .. why not!
Love the sound of that ancho chili powder!
Frozen Yogurt with a kick! I think it is quite fun to eat frozen stuff in winter.
Gorgeous!!! Love the pics too…
Frozen yogurt with chilli and chocolate – I am all for it! Love your dark gorgeous pictures!
Can we use honey or simple syrup if we don't want to use corn syrup?
Hi Dayinara, I have not tried either honey or simple syrup. Are you worried that corn syrup is the same as High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)? If so, then they are two different things. Corn syrup is only glucose and is less sweet (here glucose prevents ice crystal formation) while HFCS is corn syrup that is treated with an enzyme that converts glucose to fructose. Honey is high fructose solution and simple syrup has sucrose (sucrose is made up of both glucose and fructose), I haven't tested either of these so I cannot tell you how the will affect freezing. Thank you for pointing this out, I've updated the recipe to mention that I have used fructose free corn syrup i.e. glucose.
That is one stunning ice cream, and the idea of the chili with the chocolate is just killing me!
What a fun party idea, I wonder how that would work out if we did that here in Australia in the middle of summer and which of us would be more uncomfortable – you guys in the cold or us in the heat 🙂 Love the recipe, chilli is perfect with chocolate!
Hola Nick! Just discovered your blog through Foodgaker and i had to tell you how beautiful I think your pictures are!!!! I've never tried this combo with chocolate but I won't wait for a vortex over Spain to have it ;-), thanks!
i'm liking the greek yogurt base, i've been making my ice cream custard based lately and would like to branch out a bit. i also like the hint of heat from the chili, i think chocolate + chili is a very underrated food combo.
PS. a shorts + sweater party in January sounds like such fun!
Oh, I just love this. Just like Lan, I've been waiting to branch out with frozen yogurt lately, so I'll definitely be bookmarking this when the time comes 🙂
Thank you so much Nuria, it is fantastic to meet you too! Your kind words really made my day , I hope you make the frozen yogurt and like it 🙂
Hi Lan, this was probably one of my favorite frozen desserts this winter plus the extra pack of protein in here makes it a less guilty treat!
Thanks Cynthia, I am glad you like it 🙂
I'm more worried about the gmo corn involved, though fructose is another concern. I like using honey because it does have some health benefits. Glucose is the "energy" sugar and a better option than fructose, but I think I will try making this with honey and see what happens. I'll let you know how that turns out. Thanks!
Do you have he nutrition information you could post? Thanks!
Hi Janeen, sorry, I don’t have the nutrition information but I think that there are several websites where you can paste the ingredients and get the calorie content. Though, I can tell you that this is a rich recipe as it has carbs and fats in it and I’ve based it on a recipe from the book I used, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams.