Japanese Yogurt Pom Pom Apple Cake

Yogurt Pom Pom Apple Cake (Japanese)

Official Post № 13:

Apples. Cake. Yogurt. Need we say more?

Japanese desserts tend to not be very sweet, which we love. If you feel the need, feel free to add a little more sugar. This cake has a very delicate flavor, and it's one of our favorites.

Since it's a Japanese recipe, some of the dry ingredients below are listed as weights - be prepared to use a kitchen scale or convert them online.

Mami served as a missionary in Hiroshima Japan, and one of her companions there taught her this recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 apples (If it is red apples, no need of lemon juice) 
• 1 lemon (juiced)
• 3 oz (80 g) sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 200 ml (a little more than 3/4 cup) plain yogurt
• 3.5 oz (100 g) flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 340° F.
2. Slice apples thinly. Pour lemon juice on apple slices. Skip lemon juice if using red apples.
3. Mix oil, eggs, and sugar.
4. Add yogurt and gradually add flour and baking powder.
5. Pour half of the mixture and line the sliced apples on it.
6. Pour the rest of the mixture add add any remaining apple to the top.
7. Bake for 1 hour.

We've made this both in a loaf pan (as pictured above) and in a 9x9 pan. Both work great!

Ebi Mayo (Shrimp in a yogurt/mayo sauce)

Ebi Mayo (Shrimp in a yogurt/mayo sauce)

Official Post № 12:

This is our first Japanese recipe to showcase on our blog, and Ebi Mayo is a famous shrimp recipe in Japan that Mami grew up eating. We love shrimp and this recipe was a hit!

Here is what you will need:

• 1/2 pound of raw shrimp
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 asparagus stalks or 2 green onion stalks
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp plain yogurt
• 2 tbsp mayo
• 1 tbsp tomato ketchup
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• few drops of lemon juice

Directions:

1. Put peeled shrimp and cornstarch in a bag and mix them well.
2. If using asparagus, boil until cooked then dice. If using green onion, dice and cook with shrimp. 
3. Cook shrimp with olive oil in a frying pan until golden brown.
4. Mix yogurt, mayo, ketchup, sugar, and lemon juice in a bowl.
5. Combine shrimp, asparagus, and sauce mixture. Serve warm with plain rice.

We hope you enjoyed our first international post. We have more from Japan and Bulgaria that we will be sharing in the coming weeks.

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff, Mami, & John

Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Apple Pie Yogurt Pancakes!

Apple Pie Yogurt Pancakes

No butter, no oil!

Official Post № 11:

This one we're going to borrow from one of our favorite pancake recipes (Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes) and add a twist to it. We'll pull the same base yogurt pancake recipe (since it's so tried and true), and we'll add an apple pie touch to it.

Pancake ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Apple pie mixture:

• 1 apple
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tbsp sugar

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, beat together the yogurt, egg, vanilla, and milk. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients. Peel and dice the apple. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and tablespoon of sugar to the diced apple. Right after putting batter on the frying pan, add a little of the apple mixture to each pancake. Cook as you would any other pancake. Eat. Enjoy! Be happy! Makes about 14-16 pancakes.

Your batter should turn out about the consistency of the following picture. We used some really thick yogurt our first time around, and it turned out too thick. So, we added a couple tablespoons of milk at a time until the batter reached the desired consistency.

We like our apple diced pretty small so that it gets soft as the pancake cooks.

You can either add the apple mixture to the pancakes once they're on the griddle, or mix it in with the batter. Both work well, but our favorite was adding it once the batter is on the griddle.

The apples blend well with the pancakes and go very well with maple syrup.

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff, Mami, & John

Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Blueberry Banana Bread

Blueberry Banana Bread

Official Post № 10:

Well, it's finally time to resurrect the yogurt blog. We've been a bit busy (aaaand, a little lazy too). Since our last post, our son was born, Jeff graduated from Indiana University, and we moved back to Utah so that Jeff can work as a music librarian. Life is good! Don't worry, we've been making plenty of yogurt, and even had our yogurt start going for nearly 3 years (a new record!) -- we had to give that one up when we moved across the country.

This recipe is from a friend in Indiana, and it's probably our favorite banana bread recipe. Plus, it has yogurt, so it's even better!

Here is what you will need:

• 3/4 cup yogurt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3 mashed bananas
• 1 1/2 cups blueberries
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a loaf pan or an 8X8 pan. Mix everything together. Bake for 60-70 minutes at 350° F.

Enjoy!

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff, Mami & John

We keep meeting people that are interested in making yogurt, and we're still getting quite a few page views on our blog, so it's time to bring it back! We've got some good plans for the blog: a major redesign is in the works along with better yogurt making instructions and discussions. Plus, we have plenty of tasty recipes in the lineup! Stay tuned!

Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Nutella Yogurt Marble Cake!

Nutella Yogurt Marble Cake

Official Post № 9:

Right now you may be asking yourself, Why do you make everything with yogurt? Well, there's lots of reasons:

• It tastes good.
• It's healthy.
• It tastes good.

Your next thought is likely along the lines of, "But yogurt and Nutella don't sound like they would taste that good together." And that's exactly what we thought when we first encountered the recipe

So there I was, perusing the interwebs (OK, so I was basically looking at fantastic food recipes on Pinterest making myself more and more hungry). I wasn't searching for yogurt recipes, but Nutella recipes. As fate would have it, one of the first recipes that came up was for some kind of yogurt Nutella cake. Sadly, the link was broken. Was I stumped? No! I had the entire internet at my fingertips! In just a few quick searches, I found out that there are many recipes out there for Nutella yogurt yogurt cakes, so it's not that strange after all! And for good reason too! As soon as you try out this recipe (which, in my humble opinion, is the best one out there :), you will understand why!

Here is what you will need:

• 1 cup yogurt
• 1/3 cup Nutella (may increase to 1/2 cup)
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 butter
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease an 8X8 glass baking dish or round cake pan. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Melt butter and whisk into mixture. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir or whisk into yogurt mixture. Pour 1/2 to 2/3 of the batter into the greased cake pan. Stir Nutella into remaining batter. Pour the Nutella batter into the pan. Gently marble the two mixtures together. Bake for 40 minutes at 350°. Refrigerate leftovers (if any).

Expert tip: Microwave Nutella for a few seconds (10-12), but not too long. When it's just right it will easily slide right out of your measuring cup and mix in quickly.

Enjoy!

Whisk together all wet ingredients except for the Nutella!

In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients

Pour 1/2 to 2/3 of mixture into prepared pan. Now get out the good stuff:

I would recommend microwaving briefly before combining with the remaining cake mixture. Pour on top of the batter in the pan.

Marble the two mixtures together. A butter knife worked great!

You know what needs to be done with this :)

If anyone can enlighten me about this phenomenon, please do. Every time we have baked this, the Nutella mixture gathers while baking in the center, and in an outer ring:

The first time we baked it, it looked done after about 30 minutes, and even a toothpick test said it was done. But, alas it was not!

The cake turns out wonderfully moist. Awesome with ice cream:

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the Peach Jam from a few weeks ago? Or maybe some refreshing Orange Drinkable Yogurt?

Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Peach Freezer Jam (quick & easy!)

Peach Freezer Jam

(quick and easy!)

Official Post № 8:

We hope all of you have had some good peaches lately, they're definitely getting in season! Back home in Brigham City, Utah, this weekend is the annual Peach Days celebration. It's a fun weekend celebrating the "abundance of the best peaches in Utah" that has been going on since 1904.

Some of you may be thinking that making jam is way too hard to make on your own, and that's what I thought until I tried it out! By the way, I made this one day without Mami's help, and I still can't believe nothing went horribly wrong! This is definitely the most complicated recipe we've posted yet, because it's not as simple as "throw stuff in a blender" or "mix this stuff together then throw it in the oven." But don't worry, it's still not very hard!

So, why peach jam on a yogurt blog? If you head on over and check out our Basic Flavoring post (one of our first!) from a few months ago, you will notice that adding a spoonful of jam to homemade yogurt is our favorite way to eat yogurt when fresh fruit is not handy, or when we're simply feeling lazy! :)

This is what you will need:

2 lbs peaches (about 3 cups finely chopped)
4 1/2 cups sugar
2 T lemon juice
1 packet Sure-Jell (NOT the sugar free kind)
3/4 cup water
Enough containers to hold 6 cups of fantastic peach jam.

Directions:

Skin and chop up peaches, then mix with lemon juice and sugar. Set aside for 10 minutes, stirring often to thoroughly dissolve the sugar. Whisk together water and Sure-Jell packet, bring to a rolling boil. Let boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add to peach/sugar mixture, and stir for 3 minutes constantly. Pour in prepared containers, leaving an inch at the top to freeze. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours before freezing or refrigerating. Makes 6 cups.

Expert tip:
Prepare your containers before doing anything else. Wash them, dry them, open the lids... whatever you need. Once you get to that point, you're not going to want to wait to wash jars. No need for any fancy canning jars and lids for this one. We ended up using 2 mismatched jars, miscellaneous Tupperware, and a Ziploc bag.

After chopping peaches nice and small (this is the most time consuming part), mix with sugar and lemon juice. Stir it up well, and let sit for a few minutes while the sugar brings out a lot of juices from the peaches.

Now, set the peach and sugar mixture aside. Whisk together water and Sure-Jell packet. Bring to a boil, and let boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add this mixture to the peach/sugar mixture and stir constantly for 3 minutes.

Pour into individual jars or freezer bags. If freezing, make sure to leave about an inch of space in each jar.

Now, if you can't wait to try some, it won't hurt to take a spoonful out and put it in some yogurt or on a slice of toast. And make sure to lick the bowl!

Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours, then refrigerate or freeze. Keep in refrigerator for 3-4 weeks.

Makes 6 cups of fantastic jam.



Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the delectable Blueberry Buckle from a couple weeks ago? Or maybe some refreshing Orange Drinkable Yogurt?
Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!

Blueberry Buckle (with yogurt of course!)

Blueberry Buckle

(with yogurt, of course!)

Official Post № 7:

Well, it's been a while, welcome back! A lot has happened since our last post, and it's been way too long!

The best news for us is that Mami has recently accepted a music therapy position! She's working for a number of different clients around the Bloomington, Indiana area, for both children and adults with developmental disabilities. She gets paid for about ten hours a week but spends around thirty hours total with all of her preparations and reports for each client. This is on top of working as a cake decorator. Yep, she's busy! We are both very excited that she is able to work as a music therapist again!

Since blueberries have been in season recently, we've been having many a good blueberry adventure recently with our yogurting. This is just one of the many that have turned out to be a success! Keep checking back and you'll find a recipe for a delicious Blueberry Yogurt Pie which Mami found on a Japanese website, which we think is originally from Sweden. We'll get back to you on that one!

Blueberry Buckle:

The cake turns out nice and moist, and the best part that there is no butter or oil in the cake itself (although there is butter in the crumbly topping). The original recipe called for a 1/2 cup of shortening.

Hungry yet? :)

Here's what you'll need:

For the cake:

• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups fresh blueberries

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup sugar (white or brown both work well)
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

Start preparing by heating your oven to 350 F. Also grease an 8X8 glass baking dish or round cake pan.

Fresh berries are obviously the best choice, but we aren't ashamed of using frozen berries when fresh berries aren't available, as is evident by our Blueberry Yogurt Muffin-top Cookies recipe.

Rinse your blueberries (if using fresh berries). Now, set the berries somewhere out of reach, or they will somehow disappear.

Cream yogurt and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry mixture to creamed mixture, alternating with the 1/2 cup of milk.

We tried the next part two ways, and we enjoyed the second option much better. First we tried it with the all of the batter on the bottom, and all of the blueberries on top. On our second try we layered the cake with the blueberries, and we liked how it turned out this way better than all blueberries on top.

If you bake like I do, you will need to wash another cup of blueberries at this point. I'm really not sure how half of them disappeared before they made it in the cake! :)

Combine all topping ingredients until crumbly. White or brown sugar both work.

Sprinkle over top of cake mixture and bake at 350° F for 45-50 min. Use a toothpick test to make sure it's done in the center. If you have the patience to wait, let cool a little before devouring. It's great served warm or cool, with or without ice cream or whipped cream. Just eat it! :)

It won't be hard, but we recommend eating within a few days, and refrigerate after cooling. Enjoy!

That's it for now! Now we're off to Utah to visit family, it's going to be a great week!

Thanks for tuning in! Please let us know how the recipes turned out! Happy yogurting!

~Jeff & Mami

Did you miss the fantastic Yogurt Lover Mixed Berry Pancakes recipe or the Orange Drinkable Yogurt from a few weeks ago?
Still curious how to make your own yogurt? It's easy!