Strawberry-Cinnamon Frozen Yogurt

While there were many, many upsides to our recent European extravaganza, one obvious downside was that it happened to take place right smack in the middle of our region’s strawberry season.  Before leaving, our CSA newsletter poured a little more salt in the wound - the best two weeks of strawberries would take place exactly during our vacation.  Since our household can make a couple of quarts of strawberries disappear pretty much like magic, this was a tough blow.

But it turns out that the gods (perhaps we came in contact with some “god of the strawberries” ruins while in Rome?) were smiling on us in a strange way.  While we were gone, our CSA share, which we split with our friends Anna and Nick, accidentally got delivered to the wrong house!  By the time it was determined that it had gone to Anna and Nick’s neighbors, it was too late for the vegetables to be returned in good shape.  Our CSA gained new members in the neighbors, but we were out of a share...until, of course, our CSA could make up for it.

The day after Kevin and I got back from our trip, I got a message from the CSA.  One of the options to make up for the missed share?  Strawberries!  It was perfect.  So last Monday night, 15 quarts of strawberries were delivered to Anna and Nick’s house.  It was great...but using them before they went bad required some strategizing.  Enter the Strawberry-Cinnamon Frozen Yogurt.

Anna actually discovered this recipe from ReadyMade magazine and the book Spice Dreams last summer as a great use for those ice cream makers that we had both received as wedding presents.  While the cinnamon may sound like an unlikely match for the strawberries, it works beautifully, and the unexpectedness of the combination is one of the reasons that I like it so much!  There is quite a bit of zingy lemon in this frozen yogurt as well - enough that I think it should even be included in the name.  The recipe calls for dried lemon zest, but since I was juicing a lemon anyway, I used fresh instead.  One tablespoon of fresh zest is about equivalent to one teaspoon of dried.  I made this recipe for my parents while they were visiting for the July 4th weekend and they absolutely loved it.

You can find the recipe for Strawberry-Cinnamon Frozen Yogurt here.