I do happen to like white chocolate. It’s probably down to fond memories of the milky bar kid. It’s buttery and fatty, ever so greasy with a hint of custard to it so whether this is a good or a bad thing, I am rather fond of it.

So I thought making white chocolate, saffron and cardamom sorbet would be a great idea. But then, being me, I had to add some surprise flavours to it . Being a very sweet chocolate, spice came to mind to balance out the sugary flavour. That became the theme for this ice cream and it’s accompaniments.

So what I have for you here is something highly aromatic and very grown up. This is all well and good but let me tell you that I have been requested by the children to “just make something normal next time”. They were not remotely interested in this flavour, nor the white chocolate, black pepper and cardamom chocolate swirls I made to go with it. Only  the candied walnuts  hit the right spot.

I had a good time thinking and putting together flavours that I love and I was pleased  (mostly) with the results of my white chocolate, saffron and cardamom sorbet.

The pros:-

• Cardamom & white chocolate work very well together as does the black pepper & white chocolate.

• Candied walnuts made with cardamom sugar are divine.

• The hint of saffron gave the merest hint of yellow which was just beautiful.

The cons:-

• The recipe I followed (HERE) produced a very strange textured sorbet. I personally think it is because of the lack of sugar used in the recipe. Because of this, the sorbet would not mould into a ball very easily. It almost had a flaky, dry texture whereas my lemon sorbet  scooped up into a silky ball and came out of the freezer scoopable. This sorbet was rock solid!

The verdict:-

• The result and the final tasting by me with both toppings was one I was actually quite pleased with. The texture of the crunchy walnuts and the crisp peppery chocolate definitely lifted the sorbet onto a higher level. Without them, I feel the sorbet fell a little flat on it’s face.

This also happens to be my entry into Kavey Eats “Bloggers Scream For Ice Cream Challenge”. The chosen ingredient is “CHOCOLATE”. Last month’s entries can be seen HERE.

White Chocolate Cardamom & Saffron Sorbet with Candied Walnuts & Black Pepper White Chocolate

Ingredients :-

For the sorbet :-

• I followed the recipe HERE and added the following ingredients to it.

• A pinch of Saffon strands.

• 20 Cardamom pods. This sounds like a lot but next time I would add about half the amount and take the seeds out of their pods as the flavour was too subtle I found.

For the candied walnuts :-

• 100g packet of walnut halves

• About half a mug of caster sugar

• 5 cardamom pods with the seeds taken out and crushed finely (optional)

• For the black pepper white chocolate shards :-

• 50g white chocolate melted

• Generous grinding of black pepper

• A Pinch of crushed cardamom seeds (optional)

Method :-

For the sorbet :-

• Recipe HERE

For the candied walnuts :-

1. Line a baking tray with parchment.

2. Pour the sugar into a small saucepan and melt the sugar over a medium heat until it begins to melt around the edges.

3. Do not stir at this point but by the time half of the sugar has melted I began to stir it until all the sugar was melted and golden.

4. Add in the crushed cardamom if you wish to.

5. Pour on the walnuts and stir them in quickly to the caramel.

6. Transfer immediately to the lined baking tray and let the mixture cool down while separating the nuts so that they don’t form one big molten lump.

For the black pepper white chocolate :-

1. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

2. Add in as much black pepper as your taste requires.

3. Add a pinch of crushed cardamom pods if you wish.

4. Stir the mixture and using a teaspoon drizzle rough shapes onto your lined baking tray.

5. Leave to set either in the fridge or on a worktop but this will take longer.

To assemble :-

• Scoop your ice cream and sprinkle over the candied walnuts which you can roughly chop with a knife. For dramatic artiness stand some chocolate shards against the ice cream. Think cheffy in your construction !