Delicious Homemade Yogurt

 This has absolutely nothing to do with the Christmas season, except for the fact that I have been so busy sewing etc., that I have not been cooking!  We have been eating lots of yogurt with homemade granola and fruit. A few months ago, I started making yogurt and have been so fabulously successful, that I thought that I would explain the process to you, so that you can try it yourself.  This is so much cheaper than buying it at the grocery and so handy.

After much experimentation with a heat source, I finally settled on a candle warmer as the perfect incubator for yogurt! One may easily be purchased for about four dollars at a craft store or candle department of Walmart. You will also need a carton of Dannon yogurt (I use vanilla) or any other that has active cultures. Now we are ready to go.

I have several quart sized jars that I use for the process.  You will fill your jar about 2/3 with milk and heat it in the microwave for  a minute or so, just until the chill is off but it is not hot. We like vanilla yogurt, not being purists, so I add 1/3 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the milk .  Next you will stir in two tablespoons of yogurt into the mix and stir with a whisk until it is well mixed. Then I top off the jar with either half and half or more milk and put the lid on.

                                                                           

Now plug in the warmer and set your jar inside a bowl of warm water and there you go! About eight hours later you should have a jar of creamy yogurt. I check it to be sure with a little taste test, and if it tastes like yogurt, I wipe off the jar and set it inside the freezer for two hours and then into the frig for use. 

When I buy my carton of yogurt, I get the quart size and freeze portions in little muffin cups for future yogurt batches. I use silicone cups that I can then pop out and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. I have been using the bit of yogurt left from a jar to make the next jar sometimes.  You can do this once or twice, but the culture begins to weaken. I probably make a quart a day because we all like it so much. Next time I will give you the granola recipe that I like!

Wishing you a happy day!

Diana