Serves a Crowd

Cardamom Sundae with Cognac Cardamom Caramel and Grapefruit Cardamom Lace Cookie Crumble

February  3, 2011
4.5
4 Ratings
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

My brother's girlfriend has been serving up batches of this delicious cardamom ice cream as a constant decadent staple during the summer months. I added a boozy sauce and candy cookie crumble to finish off the sundae creation. - alyssalees —alyssalees

Test Kitchen Notes

I was wary of having too much going on in this recipe, but everything went together beautifully. There’s a very nice balance of cardamom with vanilla in the ice cream. With the grapefruit zest and cardamom combination, my lace cookies tasted fantastic but were more like chewy thin caramels than crisp tuiles. I did not have cognac for the caramel so I used a ratafia brandy I picked up at J Vineyard in Sonoma. Loved the combination, but I can imagine cognac tasting very good too. —Annabambina

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Ingredients
  • Cardamom Ice Cream and Cardamom Cognac Caramel
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon Corn Syrup
  • 1/4 cup Cognac
  • 10 pieces cardmom pods
  • 1/2 cup cream
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1 piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise
  • 8 pieces caradmom pods, lightly crushed
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 4 pieces egg yolks
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • Cardamom Grapefruit Lace Cookies
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (half stick) butter
  • 1/4 cup corn syrup
  • 1/3 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup blanched almonds
  • 1 and 1/4 teaspoons (freshly ) ground cardamom
  • 1.5 teaspoons grapefruit zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
Directions
  1. Cardamom Ice Cream and Cardamom Cognac Caramel
  2. To create the cardamom caramel sauce, boil cream with crushed cardamom pods. Cover cream tightly, take off heat and let steam at LEAST 30 minutes with pods.
  3. Boil 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup water and 1 tablespoon corn syrup. Simmer until mixture turns a medium amber color.
  4. Remove cardamom pods from cream. Add cream and cognac to caramel mixture. Take off heat and stir.
  5. To make the Cardamom Ice Cream, place the milk vanilla bean and crushed cardamom pods in a heavy pan and slowly bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 20 minutes. Take out vanilla bean and scrape seeds into liquid. Strain cardamom seeds.
  6. Beat the egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale. Gently reheat the milk or cream and beat about 1 cup of it into the mixture. Pour the mixture into the milk and return the pan to a low heat. Stir until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon; this may take approximately 10 minutes. Do not boil.
  7. Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until it has almost cooled. Fold the cream and the ground cardamom into the custard. Freeze entire mixture in an ice cream maker following the manufacturer's instructions. (Make sure that the ice cream base is fully chilled before spinning in the ice cream maker as some machines won't spin to the correct consistency if it's not cold enough.)
  1. Cardamom Grapefruit Lace Cookies
  2. Toast almonds 5 minutes in 350 oven until lightly browned. Pulse in food processor with a tablespoon of sugar until slightly choppy mince is achieved.
  3. Heat brownsugar, butter, corn syrup and vanilla in sauce pan. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat. Add flour, almonds and grapefruit zest.
  4. Preheat oven to 350F. Spoon scant tablesppons of batter several inches apart on a silicon mat. Cook 6 minutes till golden brown. Cool 2 minute and transfer to rack to cool.
  5. Construct the Cardamom sunday : Scoop fresh ice cream. Drizzle with warmed Cognac Cardamom Caramel. Crumble a cookie and scatter on top. Stick another half cookie in the top.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

4 Reviews

thehulk March 2, 2012
I made this the other day and have been eating it or thinking about it since--delicious! I needed a few extra minutes in the oven for the cookies to crisp up, and I used blood orange zest to appease my non-grapefruit-eating husband, but everything turned out amazing. I was afraid it would be too sweet with the caramel and the cookie, but somehow the flavors when together were just perfect.

It probably wasn't necessary for me to try smaller version atop a miniature chocolate souffle just now, but if you have such a thing lying around...I highly recommend it.
ninadora February 22, 2011
this sounds OUTRAGEOUS!
alyssalees February 19, 2011
thanks! we have been nibbling on the cookies for weeks... and LOVE them. as our oven is erratic, it is hard to accurately judge cooking times. i would recommend increasing the cooking time for 2-3 minutes to ensure a crisp result..
hardlikearmour February 4, 2011
My interest is piqued by your cookies. Love the idea of grapefruit zest with the cardamom!