How to Make Frozen Yogurt Bark Decadent — Strawberry Shortcake to Dubai Chocolate

If you think frozen yogurt bark is just plain old yogurt and berries, then think again. Hi I'm Gemma Stafford, a professional chef and mom and today I'm going to show you how to make five completely different frozen yogurt bark flavors with just one base. Some flavors are wholesome, some are downright decadent and once I show you the basics you can make any flavor you like. So the beauty of this recipe is the simplicity and how you can customize it to any flavor you like. So we're going to start out with one base. It's all about the base when it comes to this recipe and I'm going to tell you a little key facts. We're going to start out with yogurt. Now for the yogurt it's best to start out with Greek yogurt, not plain yogurt. You want full fat because it has more flavor, number one, has more protein, number two, but it also freezes better and it freezes creamier. You don't want to use plain yogurt because it's thinner. Greek is thicker and you also don't want to use low fat or no fat yogurt that would be very icy and have very little flavor. Right here it's fat and flavor and that's what we're going for. So I also want to mention plain yogurt. I'm not a big fan of flavored yogurts because sometimes they can seem a little bit synthetic and so I like to flavor it myself. So we are going to add sugar ourselves. You can use maple syrup which I like to do or you can do honey, totally up to you. If you like to do agave that's fine too. Just so you know it is refined sugar free. This recipe you do need sweetness coming from somewhere. Also the sugar's purpose is not only for sweetening which is really important but it actually stops it from freezing rock hard and getting really icy. If you've ever had ice cream or gelato or rose yogurt bark and it's really hard and icy it's not very pleasant. So you want to give yourself a little bit of sugar in there to keep it kind of soft and then some vanilla extract. And if you have vanilla bean paste feel free to use that too. The base is just three ingredients so make sure you use good quality Greek yogurt, good quality of vanilla and a good maple syrup. All natural maple syrup. So all you want to do is just whisk those ingredients together until it's nice and smooth. So many many years ago was it 10 years ago something like that I made a frozen yogurt bark recipe on YouTube and even back then actually people freaked out for it and it did really well. And I haven't done it since but I just thought recently like it was such a fun recipe it's summertime my child is home and he's always looking for something sweet. I can give him a little bit of something sweet with also something a little bit good. Keep it in the freezer always have it to hand. And like I said it's customizable and that's what we're going to do right now. I'm going to show you five different ways you can customize this from chocolate to lemon to matcha there's going to be something for everybody. So I'm going to show you how to make the first flavor which is strawberry shortcake bark. Bring in a quarter sheet pan lined with parchment and we are going to spread our base onto there. Not too thin we definitely want a little bit of thickness to our bark. A little tip is don't spread it out too far initially because when you add on your mixins and all your toppings it will move even further. Don't go too thin with it. So to this I'm going to add in dehydrated strawberries. Now if you've ever had these or baked with them they are a fantastic ingredient. I'll tell you why. All the water has been removed so they have an intense strawberry flavor but it also means that there's going to be no water added to our frozen yogurt bark. When it comes to the mixins we kind of just want dry ingredients on there. The reason I don't use chopped strawberries and I'm using dehydrated is because chopped strawberries will freeze solid and that's okay if you have them in small little chunks but it just be hard to eat so that's why the dehydrated ones are much much better and the flavor is great and they look beautiful. I would say if you live in America check out Trader Joe's and they sell them inexpensively and they're easy to get. Next I have some shortbread cookies. I adore shortbread cookies being Irish. I grew up on them. Adding these to your bark and same as the strawberries big lumps and small lumps feel free just to crush it in your hands. You know there's no real recipe here you just kind of go for it. I can smell the shortbread and the strawberry right now and it's very reminiscent of a brunch ice cream which is one of my favorite growing up. So that looks really good. Don't be shy with the mixins. This is what really makes it delicious. Then lastly I have some melted chocolate here. Really good quality chocolate. I recommend bar and not chips and just drizzle it over your bark. You just need a little bit to add really big flavor. Look at that. Get it all the way to the edge. I hate when you get the edge of something like a pizza and there's like nothing on it. All the way to the edge. So that's our first flavor. Bright, summery, really delicious. Let's pop it in the freezer and get on to our next one. The next flavor I'm going to do screams bright zesty flavors. It is a lemon meringue pie frozen yogurt bark and we're going to use the same base as we used and spread it into our pan. Spread it out to around seven by ten inches. You don't want it too thin. You want it to have a little bit of thickness to it. First things first, lemon. Lemon curd has to be one of my most popular recipes of all time on social media. I show you how to make a whole lemon curd using whole lemons. I show you how to make it in the microwave. I show you the traditional way. It's really a fantastic thing to have in your fridge to flavor so many desserts and just enhance everything. And in the summertime, it is so helpful to have this close by already made. So I'm going to dollop it and swirl it over the bark, making sure I get some curds in every bite. Next up, one of my favorite things, marshmallow fluff. You can use regular marshmallows if you want. This will freeze a little bit better and it will be a similar texture to the frozen yogurt. So this is a really nice one to have. And if you don't have it, you can use regular marshmallows or I do have a recipe of how you can make it yourself. And one thing I like to do with this is just heat it up a little bit beforehand to make it soft and spreadable. I'm going to dollop it on with my finger to make sure it has even distribution. Lovely. And don't forget to go all the way to the edges. There's sometimes in the evening, especially recently, where I just want a little bit of something sweet. And to have these to hand already ready to go and I can just have as little or as much as I want. It's definitely a summer dessert hack. Just swirl around the curds and the marshmallow. Be careful not to swirl too much so you maintain that lovely marbly look. You can also use store bought lemon curds. Make sure you use good quality. Next up, we have some graham crackers, big chunks, small chunks to add crunch and texture. You can also use digestive biscuits. You can use a shortbread cookie like we did for the strawberry one, whatever you like for your lemon meringue pie for lemon meringue pie. I love a cookie crust, which is graham cracker. So there you have it, all the flavor and benefits of a lemon meringue pie with very little work. Pop this into the freezer, let it freeze for around four hours, then it's ready to go. The next flavor of bark combines two ingredients that go really well together. It is chocolate peanut butter bark. So we have our base. We're going to do something a little bit different. We're going to add in a little bit of cocoa powder, unsweetened, regular cocoa powder. I'm going to add in a touch more maple syrup because of the bitterness of the cocoa powder. You want to balance it and a little bit of vanilla extract as well just to bump up all those flavors. Now using cocoa powder in here works really well because it dissolves in the yogurt and gives you a lovely smooth finish. One of my favorite things was a chocolate yogurt because you get that acidity from the yogurt, but then the richness from the chocolate. Look at that. Beautiful. Give it a little taste. Yummy. If you want a little bit sweeter, make it a little bit sweeter. Just know that when you make ice creams, frozen yogurt bar, gelato, anything like that, you always want to enhance the flavor a little bit extra because once it frees, the flavor gets a little bit muted. So you do want it to be like a little bit extra. So onto our pan, we put our base, spread it out again, not too thin. Next up, we're going to dollop some peanut butter, dollop it all around. Make sure everybody's getting a little bit and then I'm going to swirl it. Sometimes for baking recipes, I always suggest using a brand more like a Skippy or something that is easier to work with. But for your frozen yogurt bar, you can use any type of nut butter you want. It can be all natural. You can also use a seed butter. That'll work well. And then with my with my spoon, I'm just going to do a little swirl, making sure there's enough peanut butter for everybody to incorporate the peanut butter easily and get it to like move around for you. Just give it a few seconds in the microwave, let it soften, and then it will just go anywhere you want it to. Next, I'm going to drizzle over a little bit of milk chocolate. You can also do bittersweet chocolate. That's up to you. But peanut butter cups are traditionally milk. And then lastly, talking about peanut butter cups, here I have a few minis caught up and just scatter them over. You can break them up in your hands, leave some of them in lumps, some small bits, some big bits, and go all the way to the edge. I mean, seriously, even if you're not a peanut butter and chocolate person, you're going to eat this. Lovely. Another flavor done and dusted. I'm looking forward to this one. The next thing we're going to do is definitely trendy right now, which is matcha. I have some lovely matcha powder here. I'm going to add it into our yogurt base. Matcha does come as plain matcha or it can also be flavored. Sometimes I prefer the ones that are a little bit flavored with vanilla just to kind of make it less earthy and a little bit more sweet. You do you if you're a matcha lover. But this flavor is definitely going to bring us tropical summer vibes, because I'm going to put this onto our pan. And the tropical element is going to be some finely diced mango. It's really lovely right now. And it just reminds me of vacation and summertime. As you can see, I chopped the mango really nice and small, which means when you bite into us, even though they'll be frozen, it'll be a small bite. I'm just going to scatter a little bit of coconut over the top. It can be plain coconut, or you can toast it like I did their toasting just brings out extra flavor. This is like a vacation in one bite. Beautiful. I have to say I'm excited about this. I think I could give or take matcha but I will definitely try this. There we go. Another one. I am excited to try. So I saved the best for last. We're going to make Dubai chocolate frozen yogurt bark. Very delicious, all the flavors and just an added texture of the crunch. Before we get started, if you haven't had Dubai chocolate before is this beautiful blend of pistachio paste, and coffee pastry toasted, and then with dark chocolate. And very delicious. So here I have my pistachio paste. I made mine myself because it was easier and I had pistachios. You can also buy it you do need a high power blender to get a lovely and oily and smooth like this. Here I have my toasted pastry, you just toast that in a pan. Then you just mix those two together. This mix alone has everything going on so much flavor from the pistachio and the oil from the nuts. The crunch from that pastry, the toasted pastry is a very good reason why this is such a viral sensation. Now go back to our base, we're going to do a chocolate base again. So cocoa powder, a little bit more maple syrup, just to balance out the bitterness of the cocoa powder because cocoa is quite bitter. And then an extra splash of vanilla if you have it handy, just to bring out all the other flavors. And I'm going to whisk those together. So mix it together until smooth. You know the drill at this stage. Onto the pan. I think even this chocolate yogurt alone, like I am all about it. A little spread out again. Don't spread it out too far. And then we're going to add on our pistachio pastry mix and be very generous with us. And then just like the other flavors, swirl it around. Make sure there's a little bit of that pistachio paste everywhere you go. So everybody gets a bite of the whole experience. Just because we're extra around here and we've come this far, a little bit bittersweet chocolate, and then chopped toasted pistachios, adding even more texture but then also look at that lovely color. Make sure that they're toasted. Don't buy untoasted because they won't have any pretty much any flavor and toasted and salted. And that's where it's at. That's the same for your pistachio paste toasted and salted. There you go. I feel like this last one is going to be my favorite. So I'm not going to do any more talking and get it into the freezer. I'm excited about this one because I adore strawberry shortcake and it looks so inviting. It screams summertime, easy desserts, getting the kids involved. The combination of the strawberries, the shortbread and the white chocolate drizzle really gives you everything you want in a dessert which is flavor. I definitely made this flavor for myself because I adore lemon meringue pie. I love it because the contrast of flavors, the sharp lemon curd, the sweet marshmallow fluff, and then the crunchy graham crackers. This bark is giving you all those flavors and textures in one with minimal effort. What I love about the barks is when you break them up, you can see all those lovely fillings all the way throughout. This frozen yogurt bark packs a punch. It is loaded full of some of my favorite things. Peanut butter, peanut butter cups, chocolate drizzle. I mean, it has the works. And hey, if you're not a chocolate and peanut butter lover, try peanut butter and jelly. That is also a winning combination. And a bonus of this recipe is you get a little bit more protein with the peanut butter and the Greek yogurt. Peanut butter and chocolate is a winning combo in any dessert. And in this frozen yogurt bark, the flavors really shine. There's a good reason why Dubai chocolate is so trendy. And just by looking at this, you can tell why. Rich, fatty, nutty pistachios, crisp, crunchy katafi, dark cocoa powder, dark chocolate drizzle, and chopped salted pistachios. You've got flavor, you've got texture, you've got sweet, you've got salty. This flavor for me is late night in the freezer after dinner when I need something a little bit sweet. I think this flavor might be my underdog because I'm not a huge matcha fan. But I have to tell you, this tastes absolutely delicious. The earthiness of the matcha really works well with the sweetness of the yogurt base. Pair that with a super ripe mango and toasted coconut and you have all the tropical vibes. This flavor is bright, summery and definitely refreshing. I hope you enjoyed this video and let me know in the comments what your favorite flavor was. I know what mine was. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you back here again really soon.