Who doesn’t love a frozen sweet treat on a hot day? We knew our students would!
As our district was wrapping up the 2022-2023 school year, we wanted to send our students on their summer break with a reminder how far we’ve come this year with our massive increase in local purchasing. We decided to design a fun end of the year BBQ lunch menu highlighting all local foods that also included a sweet treat for our students.
We were researching some fun treat ideas for the BBQ menu and stumbled across a recipe for a frozen yogurt bar on the “Tips for School Meals that Rock” Facebook page. We already had all of the ingredients on hand so we knew we had to give it a try!
As with any new recipe, taste testing is a crucial part of adding new items to our menus. Our Farm to School Coordinator and Lead K-8 Cafeteria Coordinator visited each of our K-8 schools and passed out small samples of the yogurt bar and the recipe was an immediate success with our students.
The original intention was to just serve the yogurt bar for our end of the year BBQ. However, since our students are the driving force when it comes to new menu items and their feedback is invaluable, we will be making the frozen yogurt bar a regular menu item as the weather warms up in the spring.
Here is our frozen strawberry yogurt bar recipe:
Ingredients:
- 12 lbs Cabot Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt
- 7 lbs Frozen Strawberries
- 3 lbs (3 quarts) Granola (we used our own homemade)
- 1 1/2 cups Maple Syrup
Suggested Equipment/Materials:
- 1 Cake pan or two 2” pans
- Non-stick spray
- Immersion blender (a regular blender could also be used)
- 8 quart mixing bowl or measured container
- Scale for measuring
Instructions:
Step 1: Generously spray a cake pan or two 2” pans with non-stick spray. This recipe will fill a cake pan or two 2” pans.
Step 2: In a large container or mixer, stir 3 quarts of granola and 6 pounds of Cabot Vanilla Yogurt. Mix well.
Step 3: In another large container or mixing bowl, combine the remaining 6 pounds of vanilla yogurt and 5 lbs of strawberries (1 bag) and 1.5 cups of maple syrup. Blend until smooth-we found that an immersion blender works best.
Step 4: Add the granola mixture onto a greased 2” pan and then smooth into an even layer.
Step 5: Roughly chop 2 pounds of frozen strawberries and sprinkle the chopped berries on top of the granola layer. Drizzle with maple syrup.
Step 6: Add the yogurt and strawberry mixture on top of the chopped berries and smooth into an even layer.
Step 7: Cover with plastic wrap and freeze overnight.
Step 8: Remove from the freezer and let thaw for 15-20 minutes or until soft enough to cut. A 2” pan should be cut 8 X 5 to get 40 servings. If using a cake pan, this can be cut 8 X 10 to get 80 servings.
How this strawberry frozen yogurt bar credits
The recipe makes 80 servings and each serving is credited as 1 oz Meat/Meat alternate equivalent, 1 oz grain equivalent and ½ cup of fruit equivalent.
Helpful hints
- You can use parchment paper in your 2” pan to prevent sticking but the paper does tend to get stuck in the corners of the yogurt bar. It might be best to avoid parchment paper.
- The yogurt bar is easiest to cut when it’s partially thawed but it should be held in the fridge or freezer after cutting.
- For cutting, sharp knives work well but if you have a bench scraper on hand, those work the best.
- The granola on the bottom softens up quickly so it should be served frozen and pulled from the freezer right before service.
- If serving on a hot day, be sure to hold the bar in the freezer between serving lines.
Click Here for Standardized Recipe and Picture Guide
