Coffee Yogurt

Today I am excited to share with you how I make coffee yogurt. Over the past several years I found myself placing one little container of yogurt after another on the conveyor belt of the grocery store check out. I would sometimes calculate just how much of my grocery budget was spent on yogurt each week! Needless to say my husband, daughter and I love yogurt. For several years now coffee yogurt has been my favorite flavor. It is not too sweet, but at the same time it is not so tart as plain yogurt. To me, coffee yogurt is just right. : )

Over the past year or two I have read several articles about making yogurt at home. There were so many different ways of making yogurt I became overwhelmed. Finally this year I decided to go ahead, combine a few ideas and give homemade yogurt a try!

To start you need to bring one quart of whole milk to 200 degrees. I am using a candy thermometer, all temperatures are in Fahrenheit. 

You can very easily increase your batch size. Most of the time I purchase a half gallon of milk to make a large batch of yogurt, but for this post I will use measurements scaled down to a one quart batch.

Once the milk has reached 200 degree remove the milk from the heat. At this point I add 4 teaspoons of instant coffee and a 1/4 cup of maple syrup.

If you would prefer to make plain yogurt, then add nothing at this point.

Now wait for the milk to cool to 115 degrees. This may take awhile. I usually check on the temperature every 15 minutes or so. It generally takes over half an hour for the milk to cool to 115 degrees.

While your milk is cooling prepare a measuring cup with 1/2 cup of plain or vanilla yogurt. Each time I make yogurt  I set some aside for my next batch of yogurt.

Once your milk has reached 115 degrees pour about a cup of milk over the yogurt in the measuring cup. This will temper the yogurt. Gently stir the milk and yogurt together. Then add the yogurt mixture to the rest of the milk and stir.

Now you are ready to pour the yogurt/milk mixture into a jar. Gently screw on the lid, making sure it is not too tight.

The next step is to make sure your yogurt is well covered in towels. This helps the yogurt retain heat for incubation. Then place the yogurt in the oven with the oven light on.

Now there are many means of incubating yogurt. That was one of the reasons I felt confused when first reading about making yogurt. So if your oven does not have a light, or you simply would prefer a different means of incubation there are many to choose from. : )

I generally prepare my yogurt right after dinner and then place the yogurt in my oven over night. From what I have read you want to make sure it has at least 8-10 hours to ferment.

Once morning arrives I have a lovely jar of yogurt to greet me! At this point I place the yogurt in the refrigerator to chill. It is ready to eat later in the day.

It is a delicious treat, so creamy! Adam loves to eat his yogurt with granola in the morning. Jemimah enjoys plain yogurt with homemade jam. It is truly a blessing to see my family enjoy the yogurt I make here at home! Not only am I saving money, but I am sure my homemade coffee yogurt contains less sugar than the store bought. Plus it is much easier to add an extra half gallon of milk to my cart than a number of little yogurt containers.

I hope this post has been helpful. If any of you try making your own yogurt please let me know! : )