Dark Chocolate Cardamon Ice Cream

Date Prepared: 05/15/11

Source: Epicurious.com

 *Recipe:

4 1/2 oz dark (70% cocoa solids) chocolate

Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

2 cardamom pods

3/4 cup whole milk

1/3 cup superfine sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

To Serve:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife. Then crush the cardamom pods with the flat of the blade of the knife.

Place the milk in a separate pan and heat to just under boiling point, then add the sugar, vanilla seeds, and cardamom pods. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Using a strainer to catch the crushed cardamom pods, pour the milk into the melted chocolate and stir. Add the cream, stir well, and leave to cool at room temperature.

Once cool, pour into an ice-cream maker and churn following the manufacturer's instructions. Keep in the freezer until required.

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Difficulty: Easy - There are no advanced techniques required for this preparation. However, an ice cream maker is required for easy preparation.

Accessibility: Common to Limited Specialty - Generally, the ingredients in this preparation can be located at a grocery store. However, whole cardamon pods and vanilla beans and 70% chocolate might need to be procured from a specialty store.

The Ghirardeli brand chocolate used for this preparation was available at the grocery store in the baking aisle.

Visual Appeal:  There is nothing especially appealing about the look of this dish. It looks like chocolate ice cream. For some people, I'm sure, just the sight of chocolate ice cream makes them drool. It looked creamy enough, which was all I really cared about for this dish.

Overall Taste: The final dessert is not cloyingly sweet and is borderline bitter. With respect to taste, the chocolate flavor was pleasing. Unfortunately, neither the cardamon nor the vanilla is particularly pronounced. Three white cardamon pods were used in the recipe, which was more than required for the dish. Unfortunately, neither the aroma or the taste really came through in the final sorbet.

Overall Experience: Ice cream is not my favorite dessert. Cakes, cookies, and pastries are my sweets of choice. However, my girl friend really likes ice cream, especially chocolate. Unfortunately, we were both disappointed by this ice cream. The texture was almost gritty and the flavor ordinary.

I will concede that the disappointment might be my own fault. I tried to freeze the ice cream before the bowl for the ice cream maker was completely frozen. As a result, the ice cream only partially frozen. Realizing that the ice cream was still soupy, the ice cream base was removed from the bowl and placed back in the refrigerator overnight while the bowl was freezing completely. Crystals could have formed undermining any creaminess that might have been achieved if done correctly.

Additional Notes: If you know anything about ice cream making, please let me know.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.