Making Yogurt in the Cuisinart Yogurt Maker
UPDATED TO INCLUDE THE RECIPE AT THE END. PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO FOR THE “HOW-TO”
Yogurt. I’m a fan. I have this weird yeast imbalance thing that I’ve been dealing with off and on for years, and so for me, that means three important rules in my diet: don’t eat tons of yeast, don’t eat tons of sugar (sugar feeds the yeast) and restock the good bacteria. Most yogurt contains “good” bacteria, or probiotics, like acidophilus. This stuff helps to keep you.. ahem… regular, but it also supports your immune system. I’ve managed to remain relatively cold-free by dosing myself regularly with probiotics.
I like yogurt for breakfast, usually with granola and honey. I also like a spoonful or two in my smoothie every day to boost up the protein, add the probiotics, and make it creamy. But I’m not a huge fan of commercial yogurt. Many of the fat-free or lower-fat varieties have tons of additives–like aspartame or one of those other fake sweeteners which I generally avoid, or they have to add in thickeners to make up for the fat they’ve taken out. I’m more concerned about additives than I am about naturally-occurring fats, so I decided I’d try making my own yogurt.
Meet the Cuisinart Yogurt Maker. Now, I own several Cuisinart kitchen appliances already, and I gotta say, I’m a fan. It promises to be really simple: you put in the three ingredients, set it, and 8 hours later, you have yogurt! What I love about this appliance is how slim it is. Probably many of you, like me, have a bit of an appliance obsession, but lack the space to store them. This is so small–I could easily store it away in the cupboard, and pull it out once a week or so to make up a fresh batch. In addition, it was so easy to use–literally, you whisk up the three ingredients, pour them in, turn it on, and 8 hours later, you have fresh yogurt. Oh–and did I mention how quiet it was? You wouldn’t even know it was there. The best thing about it, though is the built-in cooling feature. I started my batch of yogurt in the late evening, and it would have been finished sometime in the middle of the night while I was asleep. But it refrigerates the finished yogurt until you can get to it and put it in the fridge. How brilliant is that??
I wasn’t 100% happy with the yogurt I made on my first try, but that didn’t have anything to do with the yogurt maker, but rather to do with the ingredients I chose. I used a lower-fat milk (because it was what I had on hand), and the result was runnier and waterier than what I’d like it to be. When I was in Greece, every day for breakfast, we had this beautiful, thick yogurt, sweetened with honey. I need to experiment with more recipes and figure out how to get it to that consistency. My guess is, I need to use a higher-fat milk. It also has the ability to make non-diary yogurt with soy or rice milk, and I definitely want to try doing that as well. I will experiment some more and get back to you, but I gotta say, I’m really happy with how the Cuisinart Yogurt Maker performed. Now, if I could just figure out how to spell ‘yogurt…’
UPDATE: turns out increasing the amount of fat in your milk does in fact make a thicker, creamier yogurt. Try using coffee cream (10% milk fat) or light cream (6%), and it makes for a perfect Greek Yogurt with no thickeners or straining.
Disclaimer: I received the Cuisinart in exchange for this review thanks to London Drugs. All opinions and recipes are my own.
Homemade Yogurt
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 1/2 cup skim milk powder
- 1 package yogourt starter (I use Yogourmet–available at Whole Foods)
Method:
Watch the video above. Times and procedures may vary slightly if you don’t have the Cuisinart Yogurt Maker.
As someone who makes yogurt the traditional way, this looks much easier, and the success rate is probably higher. With my technique I often end up with yogurt that doesn’t work out. I’m going to have to check one of these babies out. On a side note – always use full fat milk for yogurt, it’s the best!
Thanks for the tip, Raj. I’ll make sure I try full fat the next time. I think it will help!
I too always made my own yogurt, over 30 years. Heard of this machine, it works! Makes a nice thick yogurt, one quart at a time. There are recipes for goats milk also which is best for cooking if you can find it and afford it. Try it, so simple and fool proof, use starter from market bought or get starters from Cultures in Health on line. Goo luck.
I’m glad to hear a new review of a yogurt maker! I used a Donvier single-serve yogurt maker for many years, which did involve heating milk over a stovetop and stirring and things like this. The bad news is that you will never (ever ever) get thick gorgeous yogurt like Greek yogurt, or even like what you’re used to buying at the store, from just milk (even full fat milk). The good news is that you can always strain through a cheese cloth, or (easier) use powdered skim milk. This bumps up the milk solids:liquids ratio. I’ve had good results. Happy yogurt making!
Cool! Thanks for the tip. I’m off to the store to buy cheesecloth!
True Greek yogurt is always strained through a cheesecloth. I don’t any machine has that capibility…yet! I’m testing out my machine now!
I use coffee cream (10%) in mine and it makes super creamy thick yogourt without straining. The fat content is higher, though, so it really depends on what you are looking for.
Gah! This is the first I’ve heard of this! My family will have a riot 🙂 Indian’s pride themselves on their family-kept-secret yogurt strains, passed down from one generation to another. Part of this tradition is the wrapping cloths, containers and techniques used to make it. Seeing as our generation is a bit lazy when it comes to stuff like this, I think they’ll be amused to see a gadget that helps us keep this going…
Has anyone tried just using coconut milk , powedered milk and the culture of an organic supermarket coconut yogart to make in the Cusinart?
Thanks 🇨🇦
I haven’t. My goal with the coconut yogurt was to make it vegan, so I couldn’t use powdered milk. Have you tried it?
What fun experimenting different ways to make yogurt.
I like it thicker so I’m going to try the powdered milk. I read that letting it go more than 8 hours will make it more tart. I’m going to try 7 hours and see how that goes…
My main problem is I want to drink/eat the whole quart in one day….
I have never had success with my yogurt maker. I use plain yogurt from the store as a starter. Do you think powder would be better?
I haven’t had luck using your method, but I have with mine… try it!
Thanks for the tips! I received this machine as a gift and I’m looking forward to making a batch right now!
Sweet!!
Just got my Cuisinart Yogurt maker this month. Have made several paleo batches using coconut milk and honey, unflavored gelatin and a probiotic capsule. It is wonderful.
Has any one made soymilk yogurt in the Cuisinart yogurt maker. If yes can you please share the qty of milk, which yogurt starter and how much starter, and how many houre did you set it for. Thanks
I have not, but perhaps someone else has?
Do you have a recipe you can share?
If you watch the video just above, it walks you through the process of how to do it. 🙂
I just updated the post to include the ingredients to make it easier. 🙂
Do you have a recipe you’d be willing to share. This one sounds perfect!
P.S. Have you ever used agar, agar instead of gelatin with it?
I just updated the recipe to include the ingredients. One thing I love about this recipe is that you don’t need anything to thicken the yogurt, it gets thick all on its own. It doesn’t need any gelatin or agar. However, when you make non-dairy yogurt (like with coconut milk) you do need something to thicken it, and yes, I do use agar for that! http://new.cookingbylaptop.com/coconut-yogurt-vegan/
Question because I just bought my yogurt maker… If the yogurt don’t turn out thick or is runny, how do you save it? Or do you basically have a yogurt drink? Or do you have to trash the whole batch and start over?
It’s still good, has probiotics, etc even if it didn’t thicken. I wouldn’t throw it out. Just use it like kefir, add it smoothies, etc…