Red, White, and Blueberries

Last week, I spent a few evenings making three different kinds of frozen yogurt to create homemade bomb pops.  I made sour cherry for the red, tangy lemon for the white, and blueberry for the blue - duh.  Overall, these gourmet bomb pops were tasty, but the blueberry frozen yogurt kind of fell flat.  I think my problem was that I let the yogurt mixture sit in the refrigerator a couple of nights before I made the popsicles, and it created a more vegetable-like flavor.  It was disappointing to say the least.  On the upside, the lemon and sour cherry frozen yogurt are very delicious and perfect for this hot weather.  I ended up marbling the two leftover frozen yogurts together.  It is a great sweet and sour combination.  I will admit that this took some dedication, but I am glad I did it.  It was perfect for the Fourth of July and I was happy to use my new Tovolo popsicle molds I received for my birthday.  All recipes were adapted from none other than David Lebovitz.  The sour cherry and blueberry frozen yogurt are from The Perfect Scoop, while I found the tangy lemon frozen yogurt in the Los Angeles Times.

So lets get started - make these yogurts throughout the week or all in one night if you are really ambitious.  It is definitely doable.

Ingredients for Blueberry Frozen Yogurt by David Lebovitz from The Perfect Scoop:

-1 1/2 cups Greek-style yogurt (or plain whole-milk yogurt
-3/4 cup sugar
-3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
-1 teaspoon kirsch (I didn't have it - no big deal)
-2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice


Puree the blueberries, sugar and yogurt in a food processor until smooth.  I have a tiny food processor, so I just pureed the blueberries and combined everything in a bowl.  Then add the lemon juice and kirsch.  If you don't want seeds, press mixture through a strainer, but I didn't mind them.

Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.


Ingredients for Sour Cherry Frozen Yogurt from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop:

-1 pound fresh sour cherries (about 3 cups, measured unpitted)

-3/4 cup sugar

-1 cup Greek-style yogurt, or plain whole-milk yogurt

-2 drops almond extract (I didn't have any - no big deal)

To begin, pit and stem the cherries.  Mine were so ripe that I could just use my fingers to squeeze the pits out, which was a bit messy and time consuming.

Combine the cherries and sugar in a medium nonreactive saucepan.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer, stirring frequently to encourage the cherries to soften and cook down.  Simmer for about five minutes until nice and tender.

Let cherries cool to room temperature, then combine with yogurt and almond extract.  I again just did these steps separately. 

Let the mixture chill in the refrigerator for an hour.

Ingredients for Tangy Lemon Frozen Yogurt by David Lebovitz from The Los Angeles Times:

-3 cups Greek-style yogurt, or you can use plain whole-milk yogurt
-2 teaspoons chopped lemon zest
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
-2/3 cup sugar
-1 tablespoon agave nectar or mild-flavored honey
-1/4 teaspoon citric acid, plus a sprinkle more, if desired
-pinch of salt

To begin, juice and zest the lemons.

Combine all the ingredients until smooth.

Let chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.


Now it is time to put the popsicles together.  This got a little messy, but I just took a small spoon and scooped a few small spoonfuls of each flavor, starting with the sour cherry, then tangy lemon, and finally the blueberry.

Let set up for at least 4 hours in the freezer.

With the leftover yogurts I just placed them in the ice cream maker and froze.  Overall, these are a great summer time treat.  If you don't want to make the whole treat, at least try the tangy lemon or the sour cherry (while the cherries are in season).