Goat yogurt-cajeta ripple

Tuesday’s theme for Ice Cream Week is Frozen Yogurt. I knew right away I wanted to use goat-milk yogurt because, well, you know: I have this goat milk obsession. And since you know me that well, you know my very next thought was cajeta.

I can’t keep anything from you, can I?

Then you also know that I had grand ambitions to make my own goat-milk yogurt and cajeta, but these past few weeks have been a mite busy. Anyway, there’s nothing wrong with using nice, ready-made ingredients if you trust those ingredients. I’m not one of those people who always needs to make everything from scratch. (So writes the woman who is composing a post about making homemade frozen yogurt. Hmmmm.)

Anyway.

I sort of made up this recipe. I based it a bit on Jeni’s frozen-yogurt base, but I went with slightly different amounts of ingredients, used goat milk and yogurt, and substituted chèvre for the cream cheese.

The results were creamy and goaty and full of cajeta-y goodness.

If you don’t like goat flavor, you can still use this recipe to make a non-goat version. Just substitute cow milk (or camel or sheep or whatever milk you do like) for all the goat-milk products, and use a cow-milk dulce de leche in place of the cajeta (or use any favorite caramel sauce recipe).

I was hoping to link to my earlier blog post on how to make cajeta, but (you’re already ahead of me on this one, too, aren’t you?)… it turns out I’ve never written a post on that. I’ve shared pictures, but never the recipe. So.

I use the excellent recipe in David Lebovitz’s book The Perfect Scoop. If you don’t want to make your own, you might be able to find some ready-made cajeta at your grocery store or specialty food shop. It’s becoming more and more popular. For this batch, I used the cajeta made by Fat Toad Farm.

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Theme for Wednesday: Sorbet or other non-dairy frozen treat

And take a look at the frozen yogurt recipes from other Ice Cream week participants:

Phyl’s Basil Honey Frozen Yogurt
Margaret’s Strawberry FroYo
Abby’s Triple Citrus Rich Frozen Yogurt

Goat yogurt-cajeta ripple

Makes about 1 quart

1 quart goat milk yogurt
2 ounces chèvre (or cream cheese if you want to cut down on the goat flavors)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole milk (goat milk if you have it)
2/3 cups sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 ounces cajeta

1. Line a fine mesh sieve with two layers of cheese cloth, put sieve over a bowl, and put yogurt in the sieve to drain 6-8 hours (or overnight) in the refrigerator. This should result in 1 1/2-2 cups of thick, drained yogurt.
2. Put chèvre or cream cheese in a large bowl and whisk with the salt to combine.
3. Combine the milk, sugar, and corn syrup (if you’re using it) in a saucepan and bring the mixture to a low, rolling boil. Continue to boil for 4 minutes, then remove from heat.
4. Gradually whisk the hot milk mixture into the chèvre (or cream cheese).
5. Add 1 1/2 – 2 cups of drained yogurt to the milk/cream cheese mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Add vanilla extract to the mixture and mix thoroughly.
7. Chill the mixture overnight.
8. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
9. In a freezer-safe container, add a layer of the frozen yogurt, then drizzle in a layer of cajeta, then a layer of yogurt, and so on, until the container is full.
10. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper cut to size, seal the container tightly, and freeze for several hours until the yogurt has hardened.

Note I found that the frozen yogurt was creamy and smooth for the first several days, but developed ice crystals after a week or so in the freezer. I don’t know if this was a result of the method or ingredients, but you may want to eat this one quickly rather than let it linger in the freezer too long.