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The Best Frozen Greek Yoghourt and Melon with Honey and Saffron

The Best Frozen Greek Yoghourt and Melon with Honey and Saffron

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Frozen yoghourt (also spelled yoghurt or yogurt) is a frozen dessert made with yoghourt and sometimes other dairy products and natural or artificial flavorings

It is usually more tart than ice cream, as well as being lower in fat (due to the use of milk instead of cream).

Frozen melon with Greek yoghurt honey and saffron image

This is the best frozen Greek yoghourt I’ve made and it takes less than 15 minutes to prepare.  Before freezing it, it’s an amazing smothie but with the heat wave we are going through, it’s refreshing, nutricious, healthy, guilt free as it has far less calories than an ice cream and perfect for any time of the day to make you feel better.  If you have children, you can easily make it into popsicles.

I’ve been very busy with work and personal stuff lately, my blog being down for a second time in a short while, so it was quite stressful and I need to relax for a while because there are no vacation for us in the cards in the near future.  At least we are lucky that we live in the countryside, not far from the beach, where we can relax a little bit.

However, I had to find time to post a recipe to celebrate my blog’s ninth anniversary.  I hope I will be able to make it till the 10th year because I feel I am burning out.

9th year blog anniversary

Strained Yoghourt (also written yoghurt or yogurt), or Yiaourti Straggisto, as we call it in Greek, known as Greek Yoghurt abroad, is a staple in each Greek home.  

In Greece you can buy it either packed in small containers of 200 ml or buy it by the weight from large containers.

Greek yoghourt image

I had a lot of Greek yoghurt I wanted to use as well as two melons, so I wanted to combine these two ingredients and make something with them.

A short bracket here:

strawberry smoothie image

Last week when my daughter visited us, I found some frozen strawberries in the freezer and made a delicious smoothie with Greek yoghurt, milk, icecream and some honey to sweeten it and it was delicious!  That could also become a Frozen Strawberry Yoghurt but we could not resist and drank all of it!

Collage Strawberry Smoothie

However, as my husband isn’t a fan of smoothies and it was too much to make just for myself, so I decided to make frozen yoghurt instead, which he also likes.

Before starting, I took out some of the ingredients I had at home, which would work well with the recipe.

Ingredients for frozen yoghourt image

I was debating whether to sweeten it with icing sugar or honey, or to flavour it with lemon zest or citrus essence or add some of my lemon liqueur.

My choice was to use honey instead of icing sugar and used all three ingredients i.e.  limoncello, lemon zest and citrus essence, as I love the taste of lemon. However, if you don’t like lemon, you can add vanilla or any other flavour you like.

Lemon and Melon frozen greek yoghourt image

If you are making it for children and do not wish to use any alcohol, just leave it out.  As I’ve written in my cookbook “More Than A Greek Salad“, for a similar recipe with peaches:  “Although some people suggest adding a couple tablespoons vodka to prevent it from crystallizing, I have tried this and it doesn’t work. Perhaps the vodka has other agendas!”

However it does add to the taste, but if you intend to leave it out, add more icing sugar or honey, as liqueurs are sweet. You can taste and adjust the sweetness as you go along but personally I don’t like too sweet desserts.

Regarding  the heavy cream, I just added it because I had some lefover from another recipe, otherwise you can skip it if you like, but cream does make just about anything better!  Doesn’t it?

Greek saffron krokos Kozanis image

In the picture with the ingredients you do not see the saffron, as it was a last minute decision.  As the flesh of  Galia melons is a very pale yellow one, the final result came out very pale beige.  I do not like using artificial colouring but I was lucky to have both saffron and turmeric at home, which both work well to add colour.  My choice was, of course, Greek saffron (Krokos Kozanis) which is one of  the best in the world and apart from colour it adds an amazing taste as well!

When you mix it in, it won’t colour it immediately but as you can see the colour slowly develops.  If you don’t mix it you will have lovely yellow specks in it!

Greek yoghurt thickening image

If you have an ice cream machine you can churn it but since I don’t, I put it in a container with a lid and after two hours, I mixed it a couple of times to break the ice crystals.

Notes:
Freezing time: about 2 hours

Serving tips:

  • Take it out of the freezer at least 15 minutes before you want to serve it so that it softens up a bit, which makes it easier to scoop.
  • I served it with white chocolate chips and/or candied lemon peels.
Frozen melon with Greek yoghurt honey and saffron image
The Best Frozen Greek Yoghourt and Melon with Honey and Saffron

The Best Frozen Greek Yoghourt and Melon with Honey and Saffron

Yield: 5
Prep Time: 15 minutes

This Frozen Greek yoghourt dessert is made with Melon, honey and saffron.

Ingredients

  • 400 grams Greek Yoghourt
  • 350 grams melon
  • 100 ml heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp lemon zest
  • 100 ml (4 tbsp Greek honey)
  • 1/2 tsp citrus essence
  • 3 tbsp homemade limoncello
  • 0.25 grams Greek saffron

Instructions

  1. Peel the melon and cut it into smaller pieces.
  2. Put it in a blender and purée.
  3. Add the Greek yoghurt, heavy cream, honey, lemon zest, citrus essence, limoncello and saffron and blend until it makes a smooth mixture.
  4. Taste and adjust the sweetness to your taste.
  5. Pour the mixture in a bowl with a lid and freeze for 1 - 2 hours.
  6. At this point you can serve it or if you intend to keep it for a longer time in the freezer you can mix it a couple of times, every 2 - 3 hours, to keep it with less ice crystals.
  7. Remove from the freezer 15 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Information
Yield 5 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 172Total Fat 8gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 27mgSodium 46mgCarbohydrates 14gFiber 1gSugar 13gProtein 9g

"These values are automatically calculated and offered for guidance only. Their accuracy is not guaranteed."

Did you make this recipe?

Tried this recipe? Tag me @ivyliac and use the hashtag #kopiaste!

Collage Frozen Greek yoghurt with melon image

Kopiaste and Kali Orexi!

signature Ivy

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Farida

Tuesday 11th of October 2016

Wao recipe. It should be very delicious. I must try at home. Thanks for sharing such a great tutorial.

Angie

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

That looks heavenly! Did you mean 0.25g (not 25g) saffron? Happy Anniversary! I look forward to more wonderful creations from you, Ivy.

Ivy

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

Wow, thanks Angie. You are so right. Correcting it immediately.

Rosa

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

Such a heavenly treat! Refreshing and divine.

Cheers,

Rosa

Ivy

Tuesday 16th of August 2016

Thank you Rosa.

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