It’s been a while since I last posted a recipe. In fact, this has been the longest break between recipes since we started Gravel & Dine back in 2014. And it’s not for lack of having recipes to share – I have so many fun recipes to share that I’ve been working on. One of the reasons it has been so long is that this spring we have just been incredibly busy outside every weekend and even on some weeknights. We built 3 raised garden beds, including hauling and shoveling 2 truckload of black dirt and have also been working on cleaning up the yard, trimming and adding truckloads of mulch. Lots of outside time is fantastic but it doesn’t leave much time for blogging. Can I just get a rainy day already? Just kidding. The second reason it’s been so long is that my grandmother, Nana, passed away last week. She was my last living grandparent and although I miss her, it was so wonderful to gather with my family including our own mini-cousins-only Irish wake the night before her funeral. I know that both of my grandmother’s; Nana and my Grandma Forsman would have approved of the recipe I am going to share today.
You see both of my grandmother’s loved ice-cream. I mean really loved ice-cream! And although this is frozen yogurt, when you eat it; I think you’ll agree that it is a fitting tribute to Nana. Nana appears in the second post I ever wrote for Gravel & Dine with my favorite recipe of hers, Fresh Strawberry Pie. The picture of her was taken 4 years ago shortly before the post was written and it makes me both sad and happy to look at it.
On to today’s Rhubarb Orange Crumble Frozen Yogurt recipe. I’ve written in previous springs how my rhubarb plant just grows out of control and produces more rhubarb that I could even hope to eat – or even give away, I’ve tried! So on Memorial weekend when it was in the high 90s where I live, I did what any good food lover would do, I made 2 kinds of ice-cream. When I was planning what kind to make, my husband suggested rhubarb since our plant was going nuts. I looked through 2 of my trusty ice-cream books, Hello, My Name is Ice Cream (#CommissionsEarned) and Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home (#CommissionsEarned) and found that both had recipes for rhubarb but both were frozen yogurt. Ok, so we were going in the frozen yogurt direction. I ended up combining 2 of their recipes, because I loved the sound of orange and rhubarb that was described in one but wanted to incorporate a baked rhubarb compote instead of stovetop based on the description in the other. As I was thinking of rhubarb desserts, I also thought of crumbles and decided to add in the Streusel topping mix-in from Hello, My Name is Ice Cream.
Let me tell you, this frozen yogurt is amazing. It is fruity, and orangey without being to citrusy, and rich, and crunchy. I hope you enjoy.
Here’s what you need:
We’re going to back-up from this picture and make the rhubarb compote. You want it to be nice and cool when you put it into the frozen yogurt base so I make it first. The compote is just a mixture of orange zest, sugar, and rhubarb.
Cut the rhubarb into ½ to 1 inch pieces, add sugar and 2 t orange zest (don’t toss that orange, we will use more zest and the juice later in the recipe) and mix together in a 8×8 pan.
Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes – mash the rhubarb a little as you stir. When the rhubarb is soft and falling apart, remove from the oven and use a potato masher to finish the job.
Allow the compote to cool and keep in the fridge until the frozen yogurt base is ready for it. You could make it up to a week ahead if you wanted.
In a medium bowl, whisk the cream cheese– you want to loosen it up and smooth it out for when you add the frozen-yogurt base.
To make the frozen yogurt base, mix together sugar with commercial ice cream stabilizer and then whole milk, cream, sugar, and glucose syrup. (#CommissionsEarned) Bring the mixture to a rolling boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 2 more minutes.
Pour into the bowl with the whisked cream cheese, whisking as you pour. Pour slowly so you can incorporate the cream cheese.
The next step is to infuse more orange essence into the ice cream base by adding another teaspoon of zest. Whisk this in and let it steep for about 30 minutes.
Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the yogurt base into another medium bowl and remove the zest pieces.
Mix together the compote we made earlier, some Greek full-fat yogurt (you want Greek for the thicker consistency and full-fat to get the right fat ratio in the frozen yogurt; reducing the fat will make it icier), and some fresh squeezed orange juice.
Mix together the rhubarb-yogurt mixture with the cooked milk mixture.
Now set the bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice and water (about 2/3 full). This ice-bath is going to help us cool the mixture to 50 degrees before we pop it into the fridge to cure. Stir periodically and check the temp until it reaches 50.
Put the mixture in the fridge and allow to cure overnight.
While the frozen-yogurt base is cooling and curing, we can make the streusel mix-in so it’s ready when we are ready for it. I got this recipe from Hello, My Name is Ice-Cream. Start by mixing together some flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Then stir in some brown and granulated sugar. In a small bowl melt a stick of butter and then mix in some vanilla extract. Pour the vanilla butter into the flour and sugar mixture.
Use your fingers to mix together, breaking up clumps as you go. You want chunks to be between a quarter and half inch in size.
Transfer the crumbs to a parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. It’s going to spread out like a cookie because of the butter and come together on the pan. I used a half sheet pan; if you had a ¾ sheet pan or wanted to use 2 pans it probably won’t come together as much.
Use a spatula to stir and break it up into clusters again if it started to come together on you.
Return to the oven for another 5 minutes until the streusel is golden brown.
Cool the streusel on baking sheet on a wire rack and store in the freezer.
The next day, take the frozen-yogurt base out of your fridge and churn according to the ice-bream maker’s instructions. I have an ice-cream maker attachment (#CommissionsEarned) for my kitchen aid.
When the ice-cream is done churning you want to work quickly to get it into the freezer to harden. It will be the texture of soft serve immediately after churning. I transferred some of the ice-cream to these 6 oz single serve containers (#CommissionsEarned) and some to a larger container. As you scoop into the container layer in streusel. The number of layers will be dependent on the size and shape of your containers. There will be extra streusel.
Freeze the ice-cream until hard, about 4 hours. Scoop into a bowl or grab one of those individual tubs and enjoy.
Nana – when I think of the Whitten Wave send-off at your funeral, and the picture of you on the front porch. I picture you with a bowl of ice-cream in heaven. Maybe you can even taste this one.
- RHUBARB-ORANGE COMPOTE
- ½ lb rhubarb cut into ½ to 1 inch pieces
- 2 t orange zest
- ⅓ c sugar
- YOGURT MIXTURE
- 1 ¼ c Greek yogurt, full fat
- ¾ c rhubarb compote
- ¼ c fresh squeezed orange juice
- FROZEN YOGURT BASE
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- ⅔ c sugar
- 1 t commercial stabilizer
- 1 ½ c whole milk
- ⅔ c heavy cream
- ⅓ c glucose
- 1 t orange zest
- STRUESEL:
- 1 c + 2 T flour
- ¼ t baking powder
- 2 t cinnamon
- ½ t salt
- ⅓ c brown sugar
- ⅓ c sugar
- ½ c butter
- 1 t vanilla
- Make the compote. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Combine rhubarb, sugar and orange zest in a 8x8 pan. Bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Mash compote. Cool.
- Mix together Greek yogurt, cooled compote, and orange juice.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the softened cream cheese until smooth.
- In a sauce pan whisk together sugar and commercial stabilizer. Whisk in whole milk, heavy cream and glucose.
- Bring mixture to a rolling bowl, reduce to a simmer and cook 2 minutes.
- Slowly pour into the bowl with cream cheese, whisking constantly until smooth. Stir in orange zest. Allow to sit and steep for 30 minutes.
- Strain milk mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a medium bowl. Stir in yogurt mixture.
- Prepare an ice-bath by filling a large bowl ⅔ full of ice and water. Set bowl with frozen yogurt base in ice-water and chill to 50 degrees, stirring periodically. Add more ice as needed.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- Make the streusel. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk in sugar and brown sugar.
- In a separate bowl, melt butter in microwave and stir in vanilla. Allow to cool until still liquid but able to be touched.
- Pour vanilla butter into flour and sugar mixture. Use your fingers to mix together and break into ¼ to ½ inch pieces. Spread pieces into a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Use a spatula to stir pieces, breaking it up if it has spread together. Bake another 5 minutes. Stir and break up pieces and allow to cool on baking sheet on top of wire rack. Transfer to a container and place in the freezer.
- Churn yogurt base in your ice-cream maker according to the instructions. It will be the consistency of soft-serve when it finishes churning. Work quickly to transfer to a container. Alternate layers of frozen yogurt with streusel pieces.
- Freeze for 4 hours to harden.
- Enjoy
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