Peach Frozen Yogurt and Basil Snickerdoodle Sandwiches

Oh boy oh boy, is it wonderful to have a working freezer and refrigerator again! I've forgotten what it's like to not have all of your popsicles melt into a sugary, sticky mess in your freezer--though it was nice that my ice cream would come out of the freezer immediately soft and ready for scooping. :) Ever since I noticed that my freezer was on its last legs a few months ago (or more than a few months ago--I did spend several months in denial), I've been building up a list of "to-do"s once I had a working freezer again: (1) make ice cream; (2) make ice cream from the Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home book; (3) make peach-flavored ice cream. (See a theme here?) And now: check, check, and check!

I have been on such a seriously crazy peach kick lately. (Every other one of my tweets is about peaches!) The peach-lusting started long before actual peach season hit. It was May when I started having a mad craving for peach ice cream. And now that it's full blown peach season, I've been inhaling at least four or five of them per day. (granted, it's usually the small white donut/galaxy peaches, so four or five isn't *that* much! *smiles innocently*)

So of course my first ice cream out of the new freezer had to be peach flavored, and I opted in particular for a summery yellow peach frozen yogurt, with tiny bits of pureed peaches floating inside the tart Greek yogurt creaminess. Peach yogurt is something I learned to love when I was little from my cousin, whose favorite yogurt flavor at the time was peach (I was a vanilla yogurt kid). She would always request peach yogurt whenever my dad went grocery shopping. After she left for college, I switched from vanilla to peach as my go-to yogurt flavor-of-choice, partly out of wanting to be like my cool older cousin and partly out of missing having her around. While I still do very much like vanilla yogurt, I have to say that my cousin had it right all along: the sweet chunkiness of peach is just so perfect next to the tang of yogurt.

Then in the bizarre way that my mind seems to work, I got obsessed with this idea of basil and cinnamon with the peach frozen yogurt. I know that it sounds quite odd, but trust me: these basil snickerdoodle and peach froyo sandwiches are really pitch-perfect flavor-wise. As my friend Toni (one of the unofficial dfb taste testers) put it when she ate one, these froyo sandwiches pack so much flavor and taste into one bite: sweetness from the peaches, sugary spice from the cinnamon, tart from the yogurt, a wee hint of salt from the cookie, and a bright burst of freshness from the basil, all creamy and sandwiched between two soft and chewy snickerdoodle cookies. It's like a summer party in your mouth. ;)

[click on photo below for a larger image]

P.S. The Jeni's frozen yogurt recipe--like her ice cream recipes--is unconventional, but I'm really quite pleased with the results. The tapioca starch-thickened base really helped produce a super creamy frozen yogurt that isn't crumbly or hard, like most homemade froyos. You can find tapioca starch (also know by some companies as "tapioca flour") at well-stocked grocery stores or Asian supermarkets. I would recommend seeking out tapioca starch instead of corn starch (which she mentions in her book) because, as other dessert makers have informed me, corn starch leaves a odd after-texture.


Read on for recipe....

Peach Froyo and Basil Snickerdoodle Sandwiches
makes 10 - 12 three-inch sandwiches

for peach frozen yogurt
2 medium peaches, ripe
3 Tbspn (38 g) + ⅔ cup (133 g) sugar
1½ cups (345 g) whole milk
2 Tbspn (15 g) tapioca starch
4 Tbspn (57 g) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup (134 g) light corn syrup
1¾ cups (367 g) Greek yogurt

1. Peel and pit the peaches. In a food processor, roughly puree the peaches, leaving very small peach bits in the puree. Measure out ¾ cup (165 g) for peach puree and stir in 3 Tbspn (38 g) of sugar. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 Tbspn (43 g) of milk with the tapioca starch to make a slurry. Set aside.
3. In a separate large bowl, whisk the cream cheese until smooth. Set aside.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine the remaining (302 g) milk, (133 g) sugar, and corn syrup. Over medium heat, bring the milk mixture to a boil and let boil for 4 minutes, being very careful not to let the milk boil over.
5. Remove from heat and gradually whisk in the starch mixture.
6. Return the saucepan to medium heat and bring to a boil. Let cook for about 1 minute, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
7. Gradually whisk the milk mixture into the cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in the Greek yogurt until smooth, then stir in the peach puree.
8. Cover the yogurt base and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s directions. After freezing, let firm in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.

for basil snickerdoodles
3 cups (383 g) all-purpose flour
2 tspn cream of tartar
1 tspn baking soda
½ tspn salt
1 cup (226 g) butter, at room temperature
1½ cups (300g) + 2 Tbspn (25 g) sugar
14 g fresh basil leaves, very finely chopped
2 large eggs
2 tspn ground cinnamon

1. In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. Place the butter, 1½ cups (300 g) sugar, and chopped basil leaves in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add in the flour mixture, beating on low just until the flour is incorporated. Cover the dough and refrigerate for about 30 minutes, until firm.
5. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Prepare cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or silicon mats.
6. Combine the remaining 2 Tbspn (25 g) sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Using about one heaping Tbspn of dough, form a ball and roll the ball in the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
7. Place the dough balls on the cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Do not flatten.
8. Bake each sheet of cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through the baking time. 9. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to let cool briefly. After about 2 or 3 minutes, use a spatula to remove the cookies from the tray. Place the cookies on a wire rack and let cool completely.
9. for assembly. Remove the peach frozen yogurt from the freezer and let soften briefly. Scoop a spoonful of frozen yogurt onto the bottom of a cookie and top with another, pressing gently. Freeze until firm.

Note: I highly recommend seeking out good cinnamon that packs a spicy kick for these cookies because it will make all the difference.

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frozen yogurt recipe adapted from Jeni Britton Bauer’s Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home
snickerdoodle recipe adapted from Alice Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies

Enjoy!

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Please note that some links in this blogpost are Amazon affiliated, but, per desserts for breakfast policy, I would not be telling you about it if I didn't own/use/love it myself!