Caramel Swirl Frozen Yogurt, AKA I Don't Want to go to the Store to Buy Ice Cream

While the grocery store is one of the few places we're still allowed to visit, I have been trying to limit my trips. So when I found myself craving ice cream but was stocked up on all of the other food essentials, I had to improvise.

Let's see, I thought. What's in my fridge?

Plain yogurt.

Ok... That's a start. My gears started turning. What can I do with that? Well, I could add some vanilla extract, then a little sugar. My gears really were turning now.

I had another thought: that simple and delicious caramel sauce I love to make... I bet that would be great to swirl in!

It was all coming together in my head. I would satisfy my ice cream craving without having to leave the house. And you can too, because I'm about to share the recipe with you! It's made from ingredients that you probably have in your house already. But if not, I'll recommend some substitutes along the way in case you're missing an ingredient or two.

Like many of my newly discovered quarantine recipes, this one is very imprecise. So, please bear with me as I estimate quantities and try to remember all of the steps.

Aaaand... Without further ado, let's get started!

Caramel Swirl Frozen Yogurt Recipe

(aka The Perfect Recipe for When You Don't Want to go to the Store to Buy Ice Cream)

(aka I Wasn't Looking for a Healthy Dessert, but I Guess I Stumbled Upon One)

Ingredients:

For the fro-yo:

• 2 cups of plain yogurt (I used about two cups- this will make about three servings. Add more or less for more servings.)

• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract (I definitely just dumped it right in. It was about a tbsp. See what I meant when I said "imprecise"?)

- NOTE: Maybe you don't have plain yogurt, but you have vanilla? In that case, just use two cups of vanilla yogurt and skip the extract.

• 1/4 cup of brown sugar (Feel free to substitute with white sugar- or honey if you want to take this recipe up a healthy notch!)

• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream / half and half / whole milk / milk (Whatever you've got in your fridge)

For the caramel sauce:

• 2 Tbsp butter

• 1 cup brown sugar (Again, white sugar would work, but I'm not sure about honey. Feel free to experiment!)

• About 1/2 cup cream or milk

Directions:

• Scoop the yogurt into a bowl. Add the vanilla, sugar, and cream / milk. Stir until combined. You can use a spoon or a whisk or whatever you like to use for mixing!

• Pour the mixture evenly into a loaf pan.

• Stick it in the freezer.

- NOTE: If you happen to have an ice cream maker lying around, you could stick it in there. If not, stick it in the freezer.

• Now it's time to make the caramel sauce

-NOTE: Even if you don't like this fro-yo recipe, you'll want to hold onto this caramel sauce recipe! It's super simple, and you can use it for so many different things. It's kind of become a staple for me.

• Put the butter in a saucepan. Put in on the stove on low heat.

• When the butter has melted slightly, add in the brown sugar. Stir together. Keep the heat fairly low.

• Let the mixture sit for awhile. It will start to bubble. Let it bubble for a minute or two.

• SLOWLY pour in the milk or cream. It's really gonna bubble up when you stir it in, so be careful that it doesn't splash. It's very hot at this point!

• I don't have an exact measurement because I usually just pour in a little, stir, then pour in a little more and stir. That's my process.

-NOTE: You want to use a good amount of milk / cream so that the sauce stays soft when mixed into the frozen yogurt.

• Now, just set your caramel sauce aside.

• After about an hour, take your fro-yo out of the freezer. It should be frozen around the edges. Stir it using a fork. The goal here is to break up the big frozen chunks and even out the texture.

• Once you have it all evened out, evaluate the texture. If you want it to be more frozen, you can stick it back in the freezer for half an hour, then take it out and mix it again. If not, let's move on to the next step.

• Pour your caramel sauce over the top of the fro-yo. Take a knife and swirl it in.

And there you go! You're ready to enjoy your caramel swirl frozen yogurt. I hope you enjoyed this recipe and my imprecise methods. I encourage you to get creative! Try some different flavors. Just remember, you don't have to leave your house to enjoy some tasty ice cream! Stay safe, we'll get through this together, ice cream in hand.