Pineapple Coconut Frozen Yogurt

If you follow me on Instagram (if you're not, why aren't you??), you'll know that since JULY I have been attempting to locate a pint of Haagen Dazs' Pineapple Coconut Ice Cream.  I FINALLY found one pint at Rite Aid and immediately posted this picture to my Instagram feed.

Kids, let me tell you now, this ice cream was miraculous.  It was a tastebud party in my mouth.  It was everything I was hoping for and then some.  It was something like 230 calories for a half cup serving.

It was gone in one afternoon.

So ever since my binge afternoon, I've been thinking about attempting to recreate this amazing ice cream with something that won't make me want to buy a gym membership every time I eat more than a cup.

On Sunday, the weather was garbage, I was grumpy, and I wanted something fresh and light to cheer me up so I dug up my ice cream maker and started experimenting.  This recipe is mostly my own experiment, but I did have some help from this blog.

If you're following along with me, here's what you'll need

• 2 egg whites, real or boxed, whatever you've got
• 1 cup of sifted confectioners sugar (is it confectioners or confectioner?)
• 1 cup of nonfat plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• A little over 1 cup of crushed pineapple, fresh or canned
• 1/4c coconut flakes

If you're like my Dad and don't like coconut flakes, you could use coconut extract if such a thing exists instead of the flakes.  Or maybe grind them up in the food processor?  Whatever, I like the flakes so they're staying.

I keep the bowl of my ice cream maker in the freezer at all times because I am impatient and when I want to make ice cream I want it right. now.  If you don't keep your bowl in freezer, you'll need to freeze that bad boy for at least 24 hours.

First up, put your egg whites in a mixing bowl and mix them until they're good and frothy.

This may be the only time being frothy is good.

When your egg whites are frothy, gradually add in the confectioners sugar and mix until soft peaks appear and your mixture looks kind of like gooey melted marshmallow.

Now add in your yogurt and vanilla.  If you want, you can mix up the yogurt and vanilla ahead of time, but I am lazy didn't want to wash another bowl so in they went with the egg white/sugar mixture.

Mix up the yogurt and vanilla and then fold in the crushed pineapple.

 And the coconut.

At this point, I tasted the mixture to make sure I liked the flavor.  It wasn't pineapple-y enough for me, so I added a little more crushed pineapple and some of the juice.

Start up your ice cream machine and then pour the mixture into the top.  Don't pour everything into the frozen bowl and then start the machine, you will regret it.  Children will cry, balloons will pop; and brand new crayons will break in half.  Ok, probably not but it won't be fun.

From here, follow the instructions for your ice cream maker for how long you should keep it running.  I have a Cuisinart and I let mine go for 25 minutes.

Is it just me or when you start your ice cream maker is the sound tolerable but after like 15 minutes you are ready to put in ear plugs because it is so. frickin. loud.

Anyhow, you can eat it straight out of the machine, but it will be a little runny.  If you like a firmer consistency, freeze it for a couple of hours and then eat it.

I couldn't wait!

Let me tell you guys, it is SO good!  I was a fan of the chunks of pineapple and flakes of coconut, but Dude wasn't; so next time I might try throwing everything in the food processor instead of folding in the pineapple and coconut.  

This recipe made roughly 3 cups of ice cream, so based on My Fitness Pal's calculation, this frozen yogurt comes in at only 140 calories per serving.  If you really wanted to skinny it up, you could use less sugar or even substitute Splenda for the confectioners sugar.

Nutritional Information
Calories Per Serving: 140
Carbs:  26
Fat:  2
Protein:  5

Background Music for this Project:  One Tree Hill, Season 9 - Episode 7:  Last Known Surroundings