Yogurt with Pumpkin Swirl

Since pumpkin is in great abundance this fall, I have a good reason to publish another recipe using pumpkin. This yogurt is not only extremely delicious, it’s also extremely healthy as well. It makes perfect breakfast — tasty and satisfying. Create a beautiful pumpkin swirl in the middle of pure white yogurt, or layer the dish into a perfect low-carb pumpkin parfait!

 

 

 

Tips for making the dish

This is really easy and quick dish to make. Just melt the coconut oil and add the cinnamon and stevia. When those are well mixed, add the pumpkin. Cinnamon and stevia are added first so that they mix well with the coconut oil. Pumpkin is added after that, since it might cause the coconut oil to solidify. This means that the sweetener and cinnamon might not mix well enough at that point, that’s why they are added before pumpkin.

If you are in a hurry, you can omit the coconut oil. Just mix the pumpkin, stevia and cinnamon, and add to the yogurt. Mix gently, creating big swirls. I’ve added the coconut oil because of healthy fats, but you can omit it if you are not fond of coconut oil or if you don’t have time for melting it.

 

 

Yogurt with Pumpkin Swirl 2 teaspoons organic extra virgin coconut oil 10 drops (or to taste) liquid stevia 1/2 teaspoon ground organic Ceylon cinnamon 3 tablespoons organic pumpkin 4 oz = 115 g organic plain Greek or Turkish yogurt (fat content 10%)   Directions Melt the coconut oil in a small heatproof dish. Add the stevia and the cinnamon to the coconut oil and mix well. Add the pumpkin and mix well. Put the yogurt in a serving bowl. Add the pumpkin mixture to the serving bowl. Mix gently, creating big swirls.

 


 

Nutrition Information	In Total (recipe makes 1 serving)
Protein	5.2 g
Fat	21.5 g
Net carbs	6.8 g
kcal	241 kcal

 

My experiments with the dish

I was planning to publish my stracciatella yogurt recipe, but thought that pumpkin fits better — it’s still fall. No worries, I will publish the stracciatella yogurt recipe in the near future. UPDATE: Here it is!

I often enjoy yogurt for breakfast, and I was thinking how to get some variation. Since there was plenty of roasted pumpkin in my fridge, I got an idea to use that. I wanted something simple, as always. Somehow a big swirl of pureed pumpkin surrounded by bright white yogurt flashed into my mind.

I wanted to add some richness and good fats. There extra virgin coconut oil came in. I just had to melt it first, which is not a big thing because coconut oil melts at a quite low temperature. I like to use water bath for melting the coconut oil, sometimes microwave oven.

I chose Ceylon cinnamon to season and then I still needed to add some sweetener. Erythritol might be too gritty, so I chose unflavored, liquid stevia. That was just perfect! On a second thought, vanilla stevia might have been a great option, too. But now I wanted to stick with unflavored stevia.
 

 

Ideas for variation

Instead of pumpkin, you can use unsweetened applesauce. Just keep in mind that the carb count is higher (some 10.6 grams net carbs). For less carbs, you can use crushed berries, like raspberries, which are low in carbs. Or, a small amount of crushed cranberries would be also a perfect fit, you just might need a bit more sweetener so it’s better to taste the result and adjust it to your taste. Cinnamon can be replaced for example with organic vanilla extract if you use berries. And also that vanilla stevia gives wonderful flavor together with sweetness, too. I also have cinnamon stevia in my pantry, so next time I might try cranberries and cinnamon stevia instead of pumpkin, unflavored stevia and ground cinnamon.

But, if you use pumpkin, you can replace the ground Ceylon cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice (my favorite, I simply could put it everywhere!), or with your favorite spice mix. A pinch of chili adds a warming, fiery touch — perfect for chilly weather.

Chopped nuts — for example pecans — give even more richness and crunchy texture.

For a real delicacy you can add very dark chocolate shavings or dark chocolate chips.

 


 

For low-carb pumpkin parfait, add first half of the pumpkin mixture to a serving bowl, then add gently half of the yogurt so that it doesn’t mix with the pumpkin, but forms a nice layered structure. Top with the rest of the pumpkin mixture and finally with the rest of the yogurt. Decorate as desired, with low-carb granola, chopped nuts, or grated dark chocolate. Enjoy for breakfast. The day cannot start any better!

(As you see in the photo below, I just took all the pumpkin mixture, placed it in the serving glass and topped with all the yogurt plus some grated dark chocolate. I recommend those layers, though, for more beautiful presentation.)