Orange Cardamom Ice Cream
- Serves
- 1 quart
For my birthday last January, I decided to make a chocolate-orange birthday cake with orange ice cream. This is a recipe I adapted from Gourmet. I've made it with both allspice and ground cardamom, and I love the flavor and fragrance of the cardamom--and it goes particularly well with my chocolate-orange birthday cake. The Cointreau ups the orange flavor and keeps the ice cream from freezing too hard. January may be too cold for ice cream, but it's a great time for citrus.
Ingredients
- 2 large oranges, preferably organic
- 2 cup half and half (or 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup whole milk)
- 1 pinch kosher salt
- 1/4 cup agave nectar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange flavored liqueur
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
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Directions
- Step 1
Finely grate 2 tablespoons zest from oranges, then halve oranges and squeeze enough juice to measure 1/2 cup.
- Step 2
Bring half and half, agave nectar, a pinch of salt, and orange zest to a boil in a 2-quart heavy saucepan, then remove from heat and let steep 30 minutes.
- Step 3
Beat together yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until thick and pale, about 1 minute. Add half and half mixture in a stream, whisking constantly until combined well. Pour mixture into same saucepan and cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture coats back of spoon and registers 175°F on thermometer (Don't let it boil). Remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher. Refrigerate till cold.
- Step 4
Stir in orange juice and ground cardamom and freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions. Freeze for 2 hours before serving. (Or soft-serve it right away!)