Frozen Yogurt Bark Inspired By Nostalgic Drinks

Summer is well and truly here, and along with heat comes all kinds of cooling drinks and iced goodies. And lots of it! So we thought, "well, why not merge the two - drinks and ices - together?" So we did! You may remember our previous post 5 Yogurt Bark Recipes Based on Retro Desserts. Once again, we've been hard at work in the kitchen to come up with some new frozen yogurt bark recipes based on five drinks that many of us will have drunk in our childhoods. You just can't beat the flavour of nostalgia! We hope you enjoy these iced treats - perfect for those of us who melt in the heat within seconds!

Basic Recipe

Edited by Angel Noire

1 cup and 1 tbsp. unflavoured Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup condensed milk

1 tbsp. honey

Equipment

1-2 large mixing bowl depending on recipe

1-2 wooden spoons depending on recipe

1-2 saucepans depending on recipe

1 baking tin 8"x13"

parchment/wax paper around 10"x15"

1. Fruits of the Forest

Do you remember as a kid when everything was fruits of the forest flavoured: yogurt; ice-cream; chewy sweets, juice drinks... and it was the latter that we've based this yogurt bark recipe on. We used blueberry juice drink when making the forest fruit compote, but you can use any berry juice or juice drink you like. Although for a grown-ups only version, we have been known to replace the juice with some red wine. But only because we were having trouble getting hold of a suitable juice or juice drink. Honest!

Ingredients

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 tbsp. cream or milk

2 cups mixed berries for compote

1 cup of mixed berries for topping, sliced or halved if necessary

1/2 cup sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup of berry juice/juice drink (or red wine!)

Method

• Place the berries in a pan with the sugar, juice drink and lemon juice over a medium heat.

• Simmer until berries reduce to an almost jam-like consistency. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

• While berry mixture is cooling, mix together all the ingredients in the basic recipe.

• Melt the semi sweet chocolate chips with the cream. When cool enough, gradually stir chocolate a little at a time into the yogurt mixture.

• Line baking tin with parchment paper.

• Pour in yogurt mixture.

• Swirl in the berry mixture, creating a ripple effect.

• Top with the remaining fruit

• Freeze until set firm. This usually takes around two hours.

• When frozen, turn out onto a board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into any shape and size, you like.

2. Strawberry Milkshake

We're talking about those ultra thick, creamy shakes we couldn't get enough of when we were kids. You can also switch up the flavours if chocolate/vanilla/banana was more your milkshake kind of thing back in the day!

Ingredients

1-2 tbsp. strawberry flavour milkshake syrup

2 cups strawberries, hulled and chopped

1 cup of strawberries for topping, hulled and sliced or halved if necessary

1/2 cup sugar

1tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup white chocolate chips

Method

• In a saucepan, place two cups of strawberries, vanilla and sugar over a medium heat. Stir gently until strawberries have softened and broken down a little.

• Take off heat and leave to cool.

• Combine basic recipe with milkshake syrup.

• Line baking tin with parchment/wax paper.

• Pour in yogurt mixture.

• Swirl in the strawberry mixture, creating a ripple effect, OR mix everything together well. Your choice!

• Top with the remaining fruit and white chocolate chips.

• Freeze until set firm. This usually takes around two hours.

• When frozen, turn out onto a board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into any shape and size you prefer.

3. HOT CHOCOLATE

Well more like frozen 'hot' chocolate! Hot chocolate conjures up images of comfort, cosy evenings, and bedtime as a child. Who could say no to a steaming hot mug of what has to be the most nostalgic drink ever, enjoyed the world over? Our yogurt bark has the elements and flavours of a classic hot chocolate. If you are going to use drinking chocolate/cocoa powder in this recipe to give it a real hot chocolate vibe, be sure to use a qood quality one to avoid that gritty powdery taste, or just omit this step altogether, and simply use the chocolate chips for a more creamy texture.

Ingredients

1 tbsp. drinking chocolate/cocoa powder (optional) mixed with a little hot water/hot milk to form a thick but loose paste, the consistency of melted chocolate

1-2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips. melted

1 cup chocolate malt balls e.g Maltesers, crushed as coarse or as fine as you like (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup mini marshmallow

1 cup of your favourite biscuits/cookies, broken into small pieces

1 cup chocolate chips, various types

Method

• Add the basic recipe a bit at a time to the melted chocolate chips and cocoa powder mixture (if using) and combine well.

• Add vanilla and crushed chocolate malt balls (if using.)

• Line baking tin with parchment/wax paper.

• Pour in yogurt mixture.

• Top with marshmallows, biscuits/cookies and chocolate chips.

• Freeze until set firm. This usually takes around two hours.

• When frozen, turn out onto a board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into any shape and size you prefer.

4. Ribena!

Come on - if you grew up in Britain you know that you knocked back Ribena more than tap water! No packed lunch box was complete without a carton of Ribena, and some of us were even treated to a mug of hot Ribena during the winter months or when we were ill. Yep - we loved our Ribena! For those of you who may not have grown up with Ribena, it is a blackcurrant juice drink that was first introduced in 1938 and is still in existence today. This popular juice drink - which is also available in drink concentrate form - eventually branched out into other fruit flavours but the blackcurrant flavour is still the most popular.

Blackcurrants aren't always the easiest to get hold of, so if you're stuck you may have to improvise with blackberries or blueberries.

Ingredients

2 cups blackcurrants

2 tbspn. good quality blackcurrant preserve

1/4 cup sugar

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cup blackcurrant Ribena juice drink

1 tbspn. Ribena drink concentrate

Method

• Keep half a cup of blackcurrants aside, and place all the other ingredients in in a pan over a medium heat.

• Simmer until the mixture reduces to an almost jam-like consistency.

• Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

• While berry mixture is cooling, mix together all the ingredients in the basic recipe.

• Line baking tin with parchment paper.

• Pour in yogurt mixture.

• Swirl in the berry mixture, creating a ripple effect.

• Top with the remaining blackcurrants.

• Freeze until set firm. This usually takes around two hours.

• When frozen, turn out onto a board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into any shape and size, you like.

5. Rasperry Lemonade

As much as we enjoyed all of the yogurt bark recipes we tried out, the raspberry lemonade one is our absolute fave. We loved the zestiness of the lemon combined with the tartness of the raspberries. Altogether we though it had just the right amount of sweetness and tang. If you wish, you could also add a raspberry coulis along with or instead of the lemon curd. And we don't know why we didn't think of this before but you could also add popping candy or sherbet powder to the lemon yogurt mix for a bit of fizz!

Ingredients

3 tbsp. good quality lemon curd

Zest of a large lemon

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 cup raspberries, halved if necessary

Method

• Combine lemon zest, juice and sugar and mix well.

• Add basic mixture to the lemon mix a bit at a time and fold in well.

• Line baking tin with parchment paper.

• Pour in lemon yogurt mixture.

• Slightly warm up the lemon curd so it's slightly but not too runny.

• Swirl lemon curd into yogurt.

• Top with raspberries.

• Freeze until set firm. This usually takes around two hours.

• When frozen, turn out onto a board, peel off parchment paper, and cut into any shape and size, you like.

Photos: Pixabay

Wordcloud: Angel Noire