Fro-yo girl here. Froyo shops have good toppings but if you’re eating froyo at home, you can get even better toppings. Better yet, these toppings are widely available.
If I had to pick one store to buy toppings from, I’d choose Trader Joe’s. The toppings choices there are overwhelming, including biscotti, Joe Joe’s, gummy candies, peanut butter cups, peanut butter filled pretzels, chocolate chips, toffee chips, cinnamon graham crackers, meringues, macarons, cake, cheesecake, cupcakes, chia seeds, fruit, yogurt pretzels, dried fruit, honey, olive oil, etc.
My second choice would be Sprouts, because they have those bulk bins with many kinds of granola, candy (jelly beans, gummy candies, chocolate covered things, peanut butter cups, sesame sticks), yogurt pretzels, nuts, and seeds, not to mention a wide variety of fresh fruit, natural cereal, granola, honey, chocolate, dessert sauces, cones, etc.
If I had to pick my favorite toppings for home consumption, I’d choose the following:
- Marcona almonds: These Spanish almonds are better than the California almond and rarely spotted at froyo shops. Almonds go with every flavor of frozen yogurt, soft serve, or sorbet. Love the crunch and flavor that they add.
- Nature’s Path Organic Love Crunch Dark Chocolate & Peanut Butter Granola: I’ve tried many brands of granola and many of them are too sweet. Nature’s Path Love Crunch dark chocolate and peanut butter granola is addictive, with big crunchy clusters, dark chocolate pieces, roasted peanuts and peanut butter granola. And it has less sugar than most granola on the market. I’ve seen it at Sprouts and Target.
- Chocolate shell: I tried Hershey’s Shell and Smucker’s Magic Shell and Hershey’s chocolate shell was better! It was thinner, crispier, less sweet, and had more chocolate flavor. I like the crunch of the shell because it doesn’t mask the yogurt flavor as much as a sauce.
- Peanut butter chips: I haven’t met a brand of peanut butter chips that I don’t like.
- Nutter Butter cookies: Sensing a theme? Love peanut butter and Nutter Butter is crispy and creamy.
- Belgian butter waffle cookies from Trader Joe’s: They look like mini waffles but they’re thin, crisp, and buttery. So good!
- Speculoos cookies from Trader Joe’s: These crispy cookies have a wonderful blend of warm spices.
- SMASHMALLOW: These flavored, non-GMO marshmallows are so much better than typical marshmallows. They’re firm and chewy and come in flavors like Cinnamon Churro, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Coconut Pineapple. I’ve seen SMASHMALLOW at Target and Whole Foods.
- Peanut M&M's: I just like peanut butter. Peanut M&Ms have bits of peanut and chocolate in a crunchy shell.
- Chocolate covered honeycomb and malt balls: Find both in the bulk bins at Sprouts. Both combine crunch with chocolate.
I left a few toppings off the list because they’re not as easy to get. But if you can find mochi, get the Korean kind. You’d probably have to go to an Asian market to find some. Turkish delight is similar and also lovely as a froyo topping. It’s also not that easy to find though, unless you live by a Middle Eastern market. And if you’re at the Middle Eastern market, be sure to pick up some baklava for your plain tart frozen yogurt.
You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.
Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.
