Roasted berries boost flavor
Build a Better Yogurt
You can buy sugary fruit- topped yogurt in any supermarket, but there’s a much better way to get your yogurt fix, says San Jose cookbook author Cheryl Sternman Rule.
She should know. Rule wrote her college admissions essay on the topic of “my mad love for blueberry yogurt.” And her new cookbook explores every delicious aspect of “Yogurt Culture” ( Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $ 22, 352 pages).
You’ll build a considerably tastier blueberry yogurt, she says, if you separate the two halves of the equation. Make or buy a great, plain yogurt. Then top it with an easy DIY fruit compote, sweetened to suit your palate and brightened with a squeeze of lemon. If you’re wondering how, here are Rule’s rules.
“It’s easy to source great yogurt,” she says. “Use whole milk yogurt. It tastes so much better.”
Taste the fruit before you start, so you can adjust the sweetness, but remember that cooking fruit makes it less sweet. “Finish it with a hit of lemon juice,” she says, “to bring the flavors together.”
Rule keeps a variety of compotes on hand: strawberry- rhubarb, for example, plumallspice and roasted blueberry. They make great toppings for waffles, pancakes and French toast, as well as for that breakfast yogurt. “Layer it, if you’re feeling fancy,” she says. “Bright fruit, tart yogurt and something crunchy on top: granola, nuts, crispy quinoa cereal, chia or hemp seeds, anything from the bulk bins.” Makes 1 ½ cups compote Note: This compotemakes a great topping for waffles, pancakes, or French toast.
2
cups fresh blueberries, divided 2 to 2 tablespoons sugar teaspoon fresh lemon juice Plain yogurt, for serving Optional add- ins: toasted pecans, crispy rice cereal, dried blueberries, tangerine segments, banana chunks, diced kiwi 1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the center position. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Tumble 2 cups of blueberries onto the parchment and sprinkle evenly with the sugar. ( Agood bit of the sugar may fall onto the paper; carry on.) Roast for 18 to 20 minutes, until the skins burst and thick, purple juice pools on the parchment.
3. Carefully lift the long edges of the parchment toward the center and tip the berries and their juices into a medium bowl. ( If you wait too long, the juices will harden.) Stir in the remaining
cup fresh berries and the lemon juice. Let cool. ( To speed cooling, stir over an ice bath.)
4. For each serving, swirl as much of the blueberry compote as you like through yogurt. If desired, top with one or more of the suggested add- ins. Refrigerate any extra compote, covered, for up to 2 weeks, giving a stir every now and again.