Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Bites are cool and creamy bite size summer treats dipped in chocolate and decked out in sprinkles.
I finally caved in.
How can you so no to a pretty please, a pouty face and "I promise mom I will get my homework done on time"?
Bring on the Summertime Study Snacks
Dark chocolate covered frozen creamy smooth frozen yogurt topped with all of your favorite toppings is the perfect treat to help your kids study for those grueling end of the year exams. This time of the year can be very stressful. The kids have final exams, some have IB, AP, IGCSE or even SAT exams. Every group project, presentation and task is also due at the same time. Both kids and parents will be burning the midnight oil preparing. There is nothing like a cold sweet treat with a little 70 percent cocoa in it, to keep those little brain synapses firing.
Our family eats really healthy but sometime my teenage boys just need a little something special to get them through exam crunch time. My youngest son has been begging for an ice cream treat. One day he says I want an ice cream cake, then next day an ice cream sandwich, and then he says what about a huge ice cream block covered with chocolate.
The weather has been warming up in Hong Kong and it is super humid and rains most days. I have not seen the sun in over a month and this is the perfect time to make a cold sweet treat.
I did not want to make a huge ice cream cake or a huge block of ice cream that would go to waste, but wanted some little bites that they could nibble on while studying and that would be easy to store in my micro sized Hong Kong freezer. I turned on my aircon full blast in the kitchen to prepare.
I was off to Kitchen to test my ideas and let me tell you I had far more failures than successes. I really do not think ice cream is really ice cream when it is made in Hong Kong. I purchased an ice-cream made by Nestle here in Hong Kong. I began by scooping the cookies and cream ice-cream in spoonfuls and placing it on a lined baking sheet to freeze hard in the freezer. Even after 8 hours my ice-cream scoops were still soft and mushy.
I looked at the ingredients on the back of the ice-cream...sugar, artificial stabilizers, milk solids... etc.. It did not even have real milk or cream in it...Don't even get me started on this topic of food safety...Using ice cream was not an option for me but I am sure it would great if you could your hands on some Ben and Jerry's or some Häagen-Dazs ice-cream, not this fake stuff.
I tried to dip these semisoft Nestle Hong Kong ice-cream scoops first into melted cooled chocolate and then put them in the freezer to harden. The outside chocolate shell hardened and was perfect but the ice cream continues to melt and escape from the underside of the chocolate. It was a complete mess. The lesson learned here is to use a yogurt or ice cream with pure ingredients for your Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Bites.
Next, I tried placing one scoop of that Nestle Hong Kong ice-cream in between 2 digestive biscuits and then dipping it in chocolate and that when things started going terribly wrong or maybe terribly rights as someone has to eat all of those chocolate mistakes. Waste not want not!
Hmm now what? As I was fumbling through my micro-sized refrigerator I stumbled upon some yoplait Gogurts (fun sized yogurt in convenient tubes perfect for snacking and kids lunches) I always like to freeze them as the kids think they taste like ice cream. I looked on the back of the package and the first ingredient is milk... Hey now we are in business.
I chopped the yoplait gogurts into 1.5 inch segments, removed the plastic wrapper, dipped them into the cooled melted chocolate and decorated them all with different flavors and sprinkles before putting them in the freezer to fully harden. I decorated some with mini M and M's and colorful sprinkles for my teenagers and some lovely German Rosmarinkrokant for the adults. Rosmarinkrokant is a lovely herbed mixture made out of fresh rosemary and sugar and is just to die for on desserts such as chocolate, cheesecakes or even on the crackling for a pork dish.
Directly out of the freezer these little treats are a little too hard to bite into. However, after about 10 minutes of photo shots they were perfect with a nice crisp chocolate shell and a smooth creamy frozen center. Just for the kitchen experimentation, I also tried to use the Smuckers brand Shell magic chocolate that is supposed to harden on ice-cream but it did not give a good covering, the 70% melted chocolate worked the best.
Favorite toppings for Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Bites
I have also tried freezing yogurt in ice cube trays. I have also made little yogurt drops with a pastry bag and then freezing them and then dipping them into chocolate and this also works really well. If you wanted, you could add fruit or nuts inside the yogurt before freezing in the ice cube trays. Or maybe put some toasted nuts on top of the chocolate before it hardens. Maybe you prefer white chocolate to coat your frozen yogurt with sugared rose petals on top for a special gathering. I think you can see where I am going with this. You can add anything your little heart desires, just don't use that nasty Nestle Hong Kong brand ice cream. Use only yogurt or ice cream where the first ingredient is milk or cream.
Frozen Dessert Recipes for Summertime
Rainbow Fruit and Yogurt Layered Ice Cream
No Churn Dairy Free Mango Swirl Ice Cream
Matcha Banana Strawberry Ice Cream Cups
Chocolate Pecan Butter Banana Ice Cream
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Chocolate Frozen Yogurt Bites
Ingredients
- 4 sticks Yoplait Gogurts
or about 2 cups of your favorite type of yogurt - 500 grams chocolate 70% depending how thick you layer on the chocolate) You can substitute with white chocolate as well
- confetti sprinkles optional garnish (you can use chopped nuts, fruits, candies, sugared edible flowers or anything your heart fancies)
Instructions
- Freeze your Yoplait Gogurts overnight in freezer. Other alternatives are to scoop your favorite brand of yogurt into ice cube trays and freeze over night. If you want tiny little yogurt nibbles, you can put your yogurt in a pastry bag and squeeze small little dots on a parchment paper lined baking tray and freeze over night.
- Break up the chocolate into smaller pieces, put into a microwave safe dish. Put your microwave on the 600 watt lower setting. Melt chocolate in the microwave very slowly at 5 second intervals and stir every time. It took approximately 40 seconds for my chocolate to melt. Do not let it overcook as a matter of fact take it out of the microwave before it is completely melted and let the stirring and the heat generated from the dish melt the chocolate the rest of the way. Make sure you are working in a cool, non-humid atmosphere. Turn on the aircon. Do not get moisture anywhere near your chocolate or over heat it the microwave or your chocolate will seize up. (If your chocolate does seize up sometimes if you put in a little soft butter it will bring it back to life but not always.)
- Set your chocolate aside and allow to cool to room temperature. Gather your supplies: flat plate lined with parchment paper, spoons, toothpicks, sprinkles and garnishes that you desire.
- Take the frozen yogurt out of the freezer. If you are using the "Yoplait Gogurt" tubes, cut into 1.5 inch sections and remove the plastic. If using using the yogurt frozen dots very carefully remove them from the parchment paper. If using the ice cube tray method, very carefully remove the yogurt from ice cube trays. (Run a little warm water on the bottom of the tray just to get them loosened) Put the yogurt pieces back into the freezer.
- Use a toothpick to pick up a yogurt piece with your non dominant hand. Use your dominant hand to drizzle the melted chocolate on all sides of the yogurt so the it is completely covered. You will need to work quickly as the chocolate hardens quickly so immediately put on your sprinkles, candies, Rosmarinkrokant or whatever garnish your little heart desires as soon as possible. I only take out one yogurt piece out of the freezer at a time and once I am done covering it with chocolate and garnishing it I put it on a parchment covered flat plate and put it back in the freezer. Enlist your kids to help with the process as they will love their much needed 15 minute break from those horrid poem analysis projects, physic problems or powerpoint presentations.
- Allow these little chocolate yogurt bites to freeze at least 2 hours, if your kids can wait that long. Bring a few of the little treats out on a dish and leave them alone at room temperature for 5-10 minutes, just so that the inside yogurt is creamy and delicious.
- Enjoy these delightful frozen chocolate yogurt bites any time you need a little bite sized pick me up treat.
Jen says
What a nice summer treat
{Main St. Cuisine} says
Just brilliant, Bam (and such fun colors crom the sprinkles)! I had no idea that pouty faces continued beyond age 9 or so. 😉 Thank you for taking us along on all of your recipe testing. It was interesting to hear what finally worked, as well as, what didn't.
Daisy@Nevertoosweet says
These look lovely and perfect summer treat 🙂 A shame thought that so many of the ice-creams didn't work glad you finally found the yoghurt that did the trick hehe ~
Carine says
Wow! They look both delicious and impressive!
Hannah (BitterSweet) says
This is something I'll have to keep in mind as the temperature continue to rise! It will certainly come in handy to have these stashed away during the summer for snacks.
kolaylezzet says
Not only yoghurt and chocolate became pair very well, but also they are, indeed, very healthy. I wish it would not be necessary to garnish in order to make it looking attractive.
Kathleen Richardson says
I can't stop giggling over your "fail" pics. You're so determined to get it right and you finally did. Bet the boys were willing to eat the fails, too. The final creation was a cute little treat and even a bit healthy. Well done, Ms. BAM!
bitsandbreadcrumbs says
Ewww. That Nestle stuff looks nasty! But your frozen yogurt bites are so cute and yummy looking. And I love the way you shot them...like they are in their bright summer colors at the beach on a raft in the ocean of blue. So clever all around!
Paula @ Vintage Kitchen Notes says
I wish someone would make these for me when I was studying. They look amazing Bam! And I really like the idea of using frozen yogurt instead of ice cream.
helpwithyourlife says
Looks delicious! 🙂
Kristy says
How can you ever resist the pretty please and pouty face? You did good mom. 😉
Alex says
Warning noted. Loved the successful final result and felt intrigued by the krokant. I wonder if that's easy to make...
Lilly Sue says
I love this fun idea BAM! The look delicious and I love gogurts frozen too! 🙂
Francesca says
Such colorful treats! I'm sure your boys loved them.
Sibella at bakingwithsibella.com says
Great job mom! 🙂 I haven't tried this with yogurt, but it seems like a perfect treat for kids (and adults). I made chocolate covered banana and kiwi pieces and they were excellent!