Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt Recipe and Giveaway Winner!

I wanted to make something from the signed copy of Rocco DiSpirito’s book, Rocco Gets Real that we were given for attending the “Night in Napa” at St. Supery winery, that was sponsored by Bertolli Frozen Meals back in September, in honor of the giveaway I had from them.  We got the book back in October and, well, I just hadn’t even had time to do so much as flip through it yet.  I intend to just sit and read all the cookbooks I have, but seem to make more time for blog surfing.  Sigh.  So for this Bertolli sponsored giveaway, I looked through Rocco’s book and wondered what to make. 

The book is geared toward healthy eating.  Hey, believe it or not, I’m all for that.  Then I saw it—on pages 192-193—Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt.  Now we’re talking!  Actually with all my ice cream making escapades this past summer, I wanted to find a lower fat, but still tasty frozen treat.  This just might be it.  While I didn’t follow everything exactly as written in Rocco’s book (shocker, I know!), I pretty much followed it and this is good stuff!

Hey, wait, aren’t we hear to announce the winner of the giveaway?

Oh, yes!  I’ll get to that recipe in just a moment.  We did like we’ve always done for the giveaways I’ve had (although we didn’t take pictures this time!) and we (my family) put all the names of all the people who entered the contest in bowl.  Then each of the boys (including Kevin), that’s five, blindly drew out a name from the bowl.  Then from those five I blindly drew a name.  We have more fun that way than if I just did a random generator.  Thank you all for entering, this was a fun contest.  The winner chosen was Megan of My Baking Adventures.  I’ve come to just adore Megan since getting to know her through Tuesday’s With Dorie and our love of all things chocolate—especially chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  Check out her other blog, The Brownie Project!  Congratulations, Megan.  Your goodies for a “night in” from Bertolli/Ogilvy Public Relations is on its way!

Okay, the frozen yogurt.  I will use this recipe/method many times from now on.  I love me some ice cream, but don’t mind when it tastes a little healthier and for sure when I KNOW it’s healthier, but I’m still getting a treat.  This definitely tastes like yogurt, to which Kevin doesn’t really care for, but I say that’s O.K.  I’ll have the frozen yogurt and he can have the ice cream.  This one happens to be Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt, but it can be adapted with all kinds of flavors, I’m sure.  Add some broccoli, whatever you like.  Ha!!

Mint Chocolate Chip Frozen Yogurt, adapted by Katrina From Rocco DiSpirito’s book, Rocco Gets Real

2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin

1  3/4 cups skim milk

1/2 cup Stevia In The Raw (Cup for Cup) (Rocco’s recipe uses 1 cup of Splenda)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

17.6 ounces Activia Vanilla Fat Free Yogurt (Rocco suggested Total 10% Fage Yogurt)  I agree that a Greek Yogurt would be great!)  Activia is just what I happened to have.

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

3-5 drops of green food coloring

3 tablespoons mini semi sweet chocolate chips

1 ounce 70% dark chocolate, chopped  (You could use any chocolate you want and/or just mini chips, too)

Cocoa nibs for sprinkling, optional

In a large bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/2 cup of the milk.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan, heat the remaining 1  1/4 cups skim milk with the Stevia and sugar over medium heat until boiling.  Stir frequently.  Remove from heat when it reaches a boil, pour into bowl with milk and gelatin and stir with a whisk until gelatin is dissolved.

Stir yogurt in to gelatin mixture.  Add peppermint and food coloring.  Chill in refrigerator 2-3 hours or overnight.  The mixture will be set like a creamy gelatin, Rocco did not do this, he put the hot mixture right in the ice cream maker!  I decided to chill it.  The next day the mixture was just like a set yogurt.  After whisking it all together, put it in the ice cream maker and churn it about 20 minutes.  During the last few minutes, add the chopped chocolate.  Perfect!  Eat immediately or harden in freezer for a few hours.  Serve with some more chopped chocolate or a sprinkling of cocoa nibs.  Good stuff!  Makes about 2 quarts.

***Update:  I’ve now officially had some of this after it was in the freezer for hours.  I decided it has a little to much chocolate.  Probably just 1/4 cup mini chips or 1 oz. chocolate chopped is plenty.  It’s still good though!  When I first put in the 3 T. of mini chips, it didn’t seem like enough, which is why I added more.  Add as much as you’d like!

Fat free frozen yogurt, it’s creamy and delicious and even lower in sugar.  What is Stevia In The Raw?  Stevia is an all-natural, zero calorie sweetener derived from the leafy green foliage of the Stevia plant, native to South America.  It has been used as a sweetener for over 400 years.  (I was not asked by Stevia to review their product and am not being paid to do so.  I just discovered it, tried it in a number of recipes and I like it, so I wanted to share with you about it.)  The nice thing about Stevia In the Raw is that it measures cup for cup with sugar—but it’s all natural and has zero calories!

I will review a couple more recipes that I’ve tried using Stevia with in the near future, so stay tuned!