We’re a few months into my Craftsy class, and now I’ve had a little time to experience what’s possible over there. I also realized that I never shared this video here, and it’s about time. So… my favorite things about the Craftsy class?
The conversation about yogurt. We shot the yogurt lesson at the end of a long day, and it was the lesson that meant the most to me. But somehow we got it all in there: general method, variations, fruit on the bottom, Greek yogurt, uses for whey, lebneh, coffee yogurt, slow cooker yogurt, and (later in the class) frozen yogurt. The video format makes it so easy to show how things look and behave, and I feel like I could have done an entire class on yogurt alone. But Craftsy has a whole online platform where people ask questions and discuss their results, and there’s a great conversation growing over there. I’m really loving that.
The Chocolate Hazelnut Butter recipe. This was a recipe that got cut from The Homemade Kitchen because of lack of space, and I was so sad to lose it. My friend Janet helped me get this one straight, and she has the chocolate all over her ceiling to prove it. It’s really unlike any nutella recipe I’ve made, and the result is not only fantastic, it’s pretty similar to store-bought.
The Granola Bar recipe. My editor at Craftsy had asked for a granola bar recipe that was actually made with granola (as opposed to granola ingredients), and I love where I ended up with this one. It’s super simple, and if you have granola already made it comes together really quickly.
The students. There are almost 1,000 students enrolled in the class right now, and it’s a great community of home cooks. I’m finding the questions and comments to be really thoughtful and helpful. And the way the platform works, all the questions get posted alongside the video, so they really become part of the class.
The other classes I get to take. As an instructor I get to take any class I like over there, and it’s been a huge resource for me. Right now I’m working through James Peterson’s A Modern Take on the Master Sauces, Colette Christian’s Classic Croissants at Home, and Raghavan Iyer’s Indian Curries. Rosie’s been taking classes on the crafting side, most recently Amigurumi Woodland Animals.
Craftsy gives teachers a lot of power around how they sell their classes, and I have the ability to sell it at a discount whenever I like. Some of you might have seen the link up on FB, but I wanted to give the discounted link a place to live. So if you’re interested in checking out my class or any others, head over here. The class will be 19.99 through this link, and there’s no expiration for it. And this is an affiliate link, so when you use it it helps support the site and the work I do on all platforms, too.
Feel free to ask me any questions about the class, or let me know if you’ve taken something over there I should look into! And I’m working on possible plans for another class, so I’ll keep you all in the loop as that develops.
Occasionally I teach workshops, and I have one coming up this fall. Join me and stellar novelist 
I have both of your books and love them. My family loves vanilla yogurt and I wonder what is the best way to add the vanilla and sweetener. We are a family of 9 so I usually make a gallon at a time.
Hi Marguerite! Are you already making yogurt? If so, let me know your method and I’ll give you the vanilla directions based on that.
Although I have tried the slow cooker method, I have had better results heating the milk in a pot surrounded by a bigger pot of warm water heating on the stove. Once it has cooled, and I added the culture, I put the yogurt mixture into canning jars. Then the canning jars go into a Styrofoam cooler with a heating pad on med. Setting. The cooler is then covered by a wool blanket. And in 8 to 10 hours it’s done. It works well every time and great for making large batches. I’m just not good at adding the vanilla and appropriate amt of sweetener.
Your help would be appreciated. By the way, my daughters 13,15,17,and 19, love making foods from your cookbooks. They much prefer real foods and great for them to get inspiration from someone like you.
Marguerite
I’m so glad to hear my books have been getting such love in your kitchen! Sounds like a great kitchen crew you have over there…
So- let’s get your vanilla yogurt going. The first thing to remember is that you always want to make a little jar of plain that you can use as a starter. So heat your milk up to 185, let it cool down to 110, and then add your starter as you’ve been doing. Then pour off a 1/2 cup into a jar and that will be your plain starter for the next batch. The rest will become vanilla yogurt. How much you flavor it is entirely up to you, but I’d do a combination of amply syrup and vanilla extract. I’d start with about 1/3 cup maple syrup and 2 T vanilla extract for 1/2 gallon milk. Taste it (before culturing) and work from there. If you want straight vanilla (no maple), you can use sugar. Then culture as usual, and it should work great. Remember to keep notes so you can remember what you like!
Thanks, I will give this a try tomorrow. You have so many great cheese classes you are teaching, will you be doing some for Craftsy as well. I live over in northern Wisconsin so not able to attend, but would love to learn besides with books.
Can you help offer options for making a non-dairy yogurt? My sister is vegan and I’d love to make us both homemade healthy yogurt! Thanks for any suggestions you can offer.
Hi Elizabeth! So I haven’t done a lot of experimentation with non-dairy yogurt, but I can certainly get you started. The process is a little different, as you’re missing the lactose that feeds the bacteria and thickens dairy yogurt. So this means you have to thicken your non-dairy milk first (using agar agar or something similar), and then culture it There’s a pretty good overview of it here (using coconut milk): http://www.teamyogurt.com/posts/2016/1/19/tamika-adjemians-homemade-vegan-non-dairy-coconut-milk-yogurt