Jeni's Lemon-Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

I'm an ice cream fanatic. Long before I owned this ice cream machine, I found this recipe on Serious Eats on how to make ice cream without a machine. While the results were flawless, it was a tedious process that I was weary to repeat. On top of making the custard, you have to whip up heavy cream until it incorporates air, fold it into the custard, freeze in an ice cube tray or cupcake tin, then blend together with more cream. And not only is it tedious, but it also always called for a hearty portion of heavy cream, so it's much even less healthy than most ice creams already are.

Last winter, I visited Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio. Their ice cream was amazing, but David told me that they didn't have their best flavor: lemon blueberry frozen yogurt. I found the recipe online and adopted techniques from the Serious Eats article to make it without a machine, and the results were quite tasty but too much work. For my very first batch on my Cuisinart, I wanted to remake this recipe and see how it compares. Turns out, the texture was much better and it was also much easier to make. I still need to try the original for comparison purposes. 

Juice/zest lemons to yield 1/2 cup juice and 1 Tbsp zest. One lemon was adequate to yield enough zest, so I juiced that one and then used bottled lemon juice to make up the rest.

In a bowl, add 2 Tbsp of lemon juice and a 1/4 oz packet of gelatin. Let the gelatin bloom for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, on the stove at moderate heat, add the remaining lemon juice, 1/4 cup light corn syrup, and 2/3 cup sugar. Heat until it boils and all the sugar melts, then remove from heat. Stir in the gelatin mixture, whisking well to combine. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups whole milk yogurt with the 1 Tbsp lemon zest and stir. 

To the yogurt, fold in the sugar/gelatin mixture and 1/2 cup heavy cream. I also added 1 Tbsp vodka for freezing point depression purposes. Cool in the fridge for several hours, or I just popped it into the freezer and proceeded to the next step. 

In a saucepan, add 3/4 cup blueberries, 1/3 cup sugar, and 2 tsp water and cook at moderate heat for 4 minutes until the blueberries are saucy. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl, and then refrigerate (or in my case, I popped this into the freezer too).

In the time that it took to make the blueberry sauce, the lemon yogurt mixture in the freezer should be adequately cooled. Pour into the ice cream machine and churn for 20-30 minutes. By this point, the blackberry mixture in the freezer should be adequately cooled as well. Transfer to a Tupperware  alternating scoops of yogurt with spoons of blueberry sauce, then freeze for several more hours until firm. 

Recipe: Lemon Blueberry Frozen Yogurt from Food and Wine

Would I make this again? Yes, I've made this before and will continue to make it again and again