sweet and sour gelato

When I say “sour”, I mean “tangy” like sweet jelly beans and sour jelly beans ! Ha, ha ! Anyways, looking inside my refrigerator, I decided to use up all my already opened dairy leftovers. I had plain greek-style yogurt, I had evaporated (or unsweetened condensed) milk, I had sweetened condensed milk too (I love that) and of course some crème fraîche (which is pretty close to sour cream). Okay, by now you’ve understood why I call this sweet & sour gelato … the yogurt is fresh and tangy, the crème fraîche (or sour cream) is creamy, pleasantly sour, the evaporated milk is neutral and the sweetened condensed milk is just sinful ! Obviously, I added some lemon juice and zest for that extra tanginess and some vanilla and honey for added sweetness and warmth. The secret ingredient here, and this is often used by frozen yogurt shops, is adding gelatin to the mix which makes it stay softer and smoother than just plain frozen yogurt you usually make at home, this is optional of course but it helps to conserve the smoothness longer. Perhaps you remember my roasted cherry and almond ice cream (see recipe here) where I used yolks in a custard (the yolks add to the smoothness and keep the ice cream from crystallizing and becoming crunchy, this is somewhat the same thing that gelatin does because of the extra water content of the yogurt and the lemon juice) but if you decide to make it and eat it quickly on the same day, I guess you can choose not to add it in ! Trust me, it’s great, not quite like frozen yogurt, not quite like regular ice cream, an in-between summer dessert ! Enjoy … :)

sweet and sour gelato

29.08.2015

makes 1 litre of gelato

ingredients

  • 450 grams plain greek yogurt (full-fat)
  • 200 grams crème fraîche (or full-fat sour cream)
  • 200 grams sweetened condensed milk
  • 200 grams evaporated milk (unsweetened condensed milk)
  • 1 lemon (for 3 tbsp of lemon juice and the grated zest)
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 6 sheets of gelatin (6 grams total)

instructions

  • 24 hours before before, remember to chill your ice-cream churner in the freezer (you can also whip and churn this mixture by hand, if you decide to consume it on the same day)
  • in the bowl of a mixer (or by hand), combine the crème fraîche (or sour cream), the sweetened condensed milk, honey, lemon juice, lemon zest and vanilla, until smooth
  • in a small casserole, heat up the evaporated milk until it simmers and add in the 6 sheets of gelatin (that you softened up in a bowl of cold water 1-2 minutes before) and stir well until dissolved and let simmer 1 minute, remove from heat
  • while continuously whipping, slowly pour the warm gelatin-evaporated milk mixture to the mixing bowl until well-combined with the crème fraîche (or sour cream) - sweetened condensed milk mixture and immediately after add the yogurt and mix until smooth (the yogurt is added in last to avoid cooking it)
  • transfer the mixture to an air-tight container, cool it down in a bowl of ice water then let it rest inside the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to thicken (the longer the better)
  • remove from the refrigerator, whip it up again and then churn it for 45 minutes until it thickens
  • serve immediately while it’s very creamy or freeze for several hours, in a covered or air-tight container.