Maple Vanilla Yogurt

Here’s a twist on my basic yogurt recipe! It’s simple and subtle sweetness will win you over. Bonus is that there’s only 4 whole food ingredients!

If you want my basic yogurt recipe, here’s the link for that! Homemade Yogurt

For more commentary and tips and tricks, check out my plain yogurt recipe in the link above!

Maple Vanilla Yogurt

Ingredients:

• 1/2 gallon milk

• 1/2 cup yogurt

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 1 tablespoon vanilla

Instructions:

Put your milk in a large pot. Slowly heat the milk to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring occasionally. Keep at 180 degrees for 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat. Let the milk cool down to about 110 degrees. If desired, skim the foam or film that rises to the top as the milk cools.

Whisk in the yogurt, maple syrup, and vanilla. Make sure it is all well combined. If your maple syrup is out of the freezer or fridge, it’ll cool your yogurt down further. Be sure to use warm enough water in the fermentation process to account for this temperature change.

Pour into clean mason jars. This should take about 2 quart jars pending on if you skimmed the cream of and how full your jug was. Put a tight fitting lid on your jars. Put the jars into a cooler. For a hard sided cooler, pour warm water (110-120 degrees) into the bottom of the cooler. The water only needs to come up the bottom of the jars a couple inches. For a soft sided cooler, place another jar filled with warm water (110-120 degrees) and sealed with a tight fitting lid in with the jars of yogurt. Let the jars sit in the cooler for 8-14 hours to ferment and culture.

Remove the jars from the cooler and place in the fridge until cold. If desired, when ready to serve, drain some of the whey from the yogurt. Serve with fruit or granola or just eat plain! Enjoy!