Ice Cream Sunday: Blackberry Pie Frozen Yogurt

If you had to choose one kind of pie to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? I know it's a very serious, personal question that will probably require some serious soul searching to answer. Take a few minutes to think about it. No pressure. 

For me, it's gotta be blueberry pie (you thought I was gonna say blackberry, didn't ya?). Blackberry pie is an extremely close second, but blueberries don't have seeds so it comes out on top. Berry pies are simply the best if you ask me! It's a combination of the rich color, slight tang and sweet juice that just hits the spot. What's your favorite?

I've been wanting to try frozen yogurt using my ice cream maker for a while. Now that I have, I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner! I've really enjoyed simple frozen vanilla yogurt with bananas on top, but I knew I needed to try jazzing it up. 

I think you'd agree, this frozen yogurt is fully jazzed. It tastes just like eating blackberry pie, minus the seeds (hooray!). Creamy, sweet, tangy and full of pie crust pieces...does it get any better? This is definitely in my top 3 ice creams I've made to date...and it's (slightly) lower calorie than most! Love when that happens. 

For this recipe I used frozen blackberries, but fresh would work wonderfully as well. I also used a "regular" frozen yogurt rather than a low-fat version to give it extra creaminess. If you want to cut back on the calories, low-fat would work as well but won't be as rich. Oh, and you could also go with plain frozen yogurt rather than vanilla, it just won't be as sweet! 

Blackberry Pie Frozen Yogurt

16 oz. fresh of frozen blackberries

4 cups vanilla yogurt (low-fat or regular, I used regular)

1 cup sugar

Pre-baked pie crust (one "layer" is enough)

1. In a saucepan, mix together blackberries and sugar and turn on medium heat. Stir occasionally, and the berries will soon start releasing juice and the sugar will melt into a syrup. Let mixture come to a simmer, and use a fork to crush the berries. Continue cooking until the mixture is fairly smooth and syrupy and remove from heat.

2. Pour the mixture into a fine mesh strainer and use a whisk to help separate the pulp and seeds from the liquid. Throw away the berry pulp and seeds and place the syrup into the fridge until fully cool.

3. While your syrup is cooling, bake some pie crust! You can use whatever pit crust recipe you like. I used a pre-made pie crust to save time. Once your crust is baked, place in the fridge to cool.

4. Once the syrup and pie crust are cooled, combine syrup and yogurt and place in your ice cream maker until the consistency of soft serve. 

5. Transfer about 1/3 of your yogurt into a storage container, then layer chunks of pie crust, followed by more frozen yogurt. Keep layering with pie crust pieces until your frozen yogurt is completely transferred and place in the freezer for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!