Let’s get one thing out of the way. This frozen yogurt is not the soft, swirled, birthday cake-flavored frozen yogurt that you mound with mochi, leaving a mochi trail on your walk to the register.
This is yogurt, frozen—unchurned, unfazed, ready to exceed all your expectations.
A of couple summers ago, Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen wondered why breakfast popsicles aren’t a thing and I still haven’t thought of a good answer except: They should be! She takes Greek yogurt, adds simple syrup, then swirls the mixture with jammy blackberries in popsicle molds. No machine necessary. Even the molds can be replaced with paper cups.
That simple syrup, though? I couldn’t help but wonder if we could do without. But it’s complicated.
Sugar isn’t just for sweetness—it’s also for consistency. When making a frozen, dairy-based dessert, there are a couple ways to disrupt the ice crystals to create a creamy texture. One is to churn, which incorporates air. Another is to add sugar, which, when dissolved, convinces some of the water molecules to resist freezing.
I tested two unsweetened frozen yogurt pops—nonfat and full-fat—to get a sense of the icy spectrum. The former was icy as heck. But the latter was surprisingly creamy—and tart enough for me to call breakfast, with no added sugar. Instead of disrupting the ice crystals, you’ll lower the number of them by using strained, full-fat yogurt. Fat will make the frozen yogurt smoother and creamier, and less water means fewer ice crystals. (While sweetened yogurt will be creamier, the unsweetened version works, too!)
