cardamom Archives - Sugar et al

Homemade Madeleines with Rosewater and Cardamom

15|07|2022

There is something so delicate, dainty and special about homemade Madeleines. These little french cakes are not only delicious and buttery, but they are also pretty easy to make. I’ve always enjoyed them with classic flavours like vanilla and chocolate dusted with a bit of icing sugar, This time around, I decided to give a them little makeover and use some of my most favourite flavours. Rosewater and cardamom.

Typically one would brown the butter for that rich buttery taste, but in this case we want the rosewater to shine through in these homemade madeleines. It also means we skip the browning step making the recipe as simple as ever.

It is winter where I live and I’m counting days until spring. I created this setup to resemble spring in my own kitchen. That is the best part about the job I do. I can recreate seasons and scenes right in my studio and kitchen. Who doesn’t like to have spring all year round?

Dont forget to check out these Caramilk and Strawberry Madeleines is you love these adorable cookies.

The molds for making these Madeleines effortlessly can be found here

Homemade Madeleines with Rosewater and Cardamom
Makes 18

3 eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp rosewater
3/4 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
100 g white chocolate, melted
pink gel food colouring

Preheat oven to 200°C. Grease well, a 12-hole madeleine baking pan.
Place eggs , sugar , rosewater into a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until thick, pale and doubled in volume. Gently fold in flour , baking powder, cardamom powder and butter using a metal spoon. Cover bowl with clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 mins.

Place tablespoons of mixture into prepared madeleine moulds. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cakes spring back when pressed in the centre. Cool slightly before removing from moulds. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Colour the white chocolate with 2 drops of pink food colouring. Pipe (or spoon) small amount of melted white chocolate into a clean mold, gently place half the quantity of madeleines on the chocolate. Add 2 more drops of food colour to the chocolate (if starting to solidify, warm to melt again). Repeat with remaining madeleines. Place pan in freezer to set. About 25 mins. ⁣
remove from freezer. Madeleines should easily come off the pan. Store in an air tight container in room temperature.

Fresh Fruit and Cardamom Cream Tart

11|10|2016

It’s been a long time isn’t it? When I look at my last post I realize I haven’t posted on the blog for over a month. I hope all of you have been well and enjoying the change of seasons. At my end, things have been hectic. I had been working (still am) on several creative projects at the same time. Somehow I haven’t been doing any major recipe testing which is probably why I never got around to sharing anything on the blog. They were mostly styling and photography projects that I did for various clients. Then there were those that I have diligently worked on but can’t share.And of course, the random ones where I’ve created something using a old recipe from here and a twist from there, cake batter from one, buttercream from another and such. Funny situation to be in 🙂 I wish I had a few hours every day to do more and go to sleep feeling happy and contented. But these days, that does not happen. With warmer months and daylight savings kicking off for us, I am hoping I’ll have a little extra time in the day to use to my advantage.

I also got my blog redesigned, though unfortunately there is a lot left to update. My husband tells me ‘Isn’t it easier to update one page than replying to 10 different emails quoting the exact same thing?’ Ha, I already know that! The point is that there are things you know but you still do them. Or don’t do them! Can’t do! Unable to do! Won’t do! Okay it’s pretty much the same thing. Meanwhile life goes on. Now before I bore you too much, let me talk food. This is a no-brainer of a tart! Crisp pastry, fresh cream, fresh fruits with the addition of powdered cardamom in the cream. Using cardamom to flavour cream and dairy is something that I’ve been used to since I was a child. The little amount of cardamom gives it a gorgeous flavour and aroma. I made this tart using all the seasonal produce we had during the end of winter for and from a very favourite store of mine. Harris Farm markets are like a weekend hangout for me. Recently I had the opportunity of shooting some of their gorgeous produce and this one was one of them.

Fresh Fruit And Cardamom Cream Tart
Serves 5-6

7 inch round Pastry, Store bought or Home-made (use this recipe)
2 cups whipping cream, whipped to stiff peaks with 1/4 cup castor sugar and 1 tsp powdered cardamom
Fresh seasonal fruits (watermelon, grapes, kiwi fruit, strawberries, blueberries and passion fruit)

Prepare pastry ahead in time if making at home. Pour cardamom infused whipped cream just before serving. Level with the back of a spoon or a spatula.

Decorate with fruits and edible flowers. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to an hour.

Rose And Cardamom Cheesecake Mille-feuille

13|03|2015

With puff pastry, I think the sky is the limit when you think of recipes. Remember my story about my fridge overload. One of the things I always stock up on is puff pastry. I stopped making my own a couple of years ago. It is not difficult to make at all but time consuming. With two little boys on tow, I would never remember to take the dough out on time after it had rested between the different stages of rolling. When I would remember, it would be too hard to roll. I would leave it on the counter and forget again. But now that I keep the rolled sheets at home, I find it really helpful to make sweet and savory food in a jiffy.

Mille feuilles are a great way of using puff pastry. Layers of pastry cream or even whipped cream and fruit sandwiched between crumbly layers of pastry. Visually, they are beautiful in their little rustic stacks and the perfect marraige of contrasting textures. Here I’ve use whipped cream cheese between the layers for a no-bake cheesecake kind of dessert. So basically it is a fusion of two desserts that come together in minutes. I’ve infused the cheesecake with rose water and tiny bit of cardamom powder and sprinkled them with with ground pistachios. You could go with vanilla, orange or even lemon if you do not have rose water at home.

Piping the cheesecake certainly makes them look pretty but if you are not comfortable with piping, you could spread the cheesecake mixture on the layers. I would insist though that you give piping a try. A plain round tip will work nicely too or if you do not have nozzles and piping bags at home, just cut a tiny opening at one corner of a zip-lock bag and use that to pipe on the pastry layers. These mille feuilles can be stored in the fridge but is best assembled just before serving.

Rose And Cardamom Cheesecake Mille-feuille
Makes 4

1 sheet (25 x 25 cm) frozen ready-rolled butter puff pastry, just thawed
250 g cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/2 cup cold whipping cream or heavy cream
1 tbsp rose water (or 1 tsp rose essence)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 handful pistachios, skinned and finely chopped

Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Using a pizza cutter or knife, cut the pastry sheet vertically and horizontally. You will have four squares. Cut each square equally to get 8 rectangles.

Place the pastry rectangles on the lined tray. Top them with another sheet of baking paper and another baking tray. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes. Turn the trays over and bake for a further 5-10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden. Set aside for 30 minutes to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the cheesecake filling. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the icing sugar and beat until smooth. Gradually add the heavy cream, rose water and cardamom powder and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. In case you are using a brand of heavy cream that does not whip easily, then whip the cream separately to stiff peaks and fold it gradually into the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate till needed.

To assemble, pipe the cheesecake filling onto one pastry rectangle. Sandwich with another pastry rectangle. Pipe filling again. Sprinkle with pistachios. Decorate with edible rosebuds.

Saffron Baked Custard With Cardamom Crumble

31|01|2015

‘A pinch goes a long way’ said my grandmother when she saw me examining the tiny box with curiosity. I was always in awe of that little box that contained unruly deep red threads of the most exotic spice I knew of. Saffron is beautiful…as much as it is powerful. The ‘prima donna’ of the spice family. Its flavor is unique and the color and aroma it adds to a dish is exclusive. It is not an ingredient that you would use everyday but once you use it, you would be enamored by its presence. Every year there would be someone from our family or extended family visiting the Jammu-Kashmir (northern) region of India on a pilgrimage and my mother would make a deal with them. ‘Kashmiri red chillies, cardamom, nutmeg, mace and 2 boxes of saffron’.The 2 boxes were enough for a year’s worth of sweet treats. Obviously she returned the favor when it was her turn. Which meant plentiful spice shopping in the freezing cold, winding by-lanes on the hills. Competition was fierce and shop owners stood outside their shops calling out to prospective customers. We would return with bags full of spice like everybody else and the buses or trains leaving from this region always smelled like a giant nutmeg to me.

Saffron is an integral part of Indian desserts much like cardamom, almond and pistachio. These are flavors of my childhood. The smell of these are deeply embedded in my system. Combining them with baked goods I make today, thrills me to the core. The fantastic fusion of taste, texture and appeal. The best of both delicious worlds.

A baked custard is an easy and tasty way to use saffron. Because the threads need a medium (more specifically, moisture) to perform to their full potential, milk or cream are ideal partners. I toyed around with the idea of a Creme Brulee initially but that didn’t make sense as the entire point was to show off the vibrant, yellow that makes this spice so gorgeous. If you know me by now, I love my desserts to have crunch and contrasting textures. So, instead of a burnt sugar crust I decided to pair it with a cardamom infused crumble, a little fresh cream and tart strawberries. If you could take a bite, you would know that this is a match made in Heaven. Truly magical. It teases your taste buds with different sensations and leaves you craving for more. The aroma makes me go crazy with nostalgia.

You may already know, Saffron is expensive. Those power-packed threads are actually the stigma of a flower and are harvested by hand. Saffron is used in a lot of sweet and savoury food. So if you get hold of some, you can try out many different ways of using them. A tiny bit is enough to do all the magic. A pinch goes a long way.

Saffron Baked Custard with Cardamom Crumble
Serves 4-5

1/2 cup milk
saffron, a pinch
11/2 cups heavy cream
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp. castor sugar (more if you require it sweeter)
Cardamom crumble, to serve (recipe below)
Strawberries or any fruit of your choice to serve
Whipped Cream, to serve (optional)

Soak the saffron in milk for 30 minutes to infuse. Preheat oven to 160 degrees C ( 140 degrees for fan-forced ovens) .Combine cream and milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until hot (do not allow to boil). Remove saucepan from heat.

Whisk egg yolks, sugar and spices in a heatproof bowl until well combined. Pour the warm cream mixture over the egg yolk mixture, little at a time whisking constantly until smooth. Take care not to add the entire cream to the eggs together as it can overcook the eggs resulting in scrambled eggs. Strain the liquid into a pouring jug pressing the residue in the strainer with the back of spoon to ensure maximum extraction of flavor and color from the saffron.

Divide the custard into five lightly-greased, ramekins or ovenproof cups. Place in a deep baking tray. Pour boiling water into baking tray until halfway up sides of ramekins.

Bake custards, uncovered, for 45 minutes or until just set (while the centres are slightly jiggly when shaken). Remove from the oven and take the ramekins out of the water bath. Leave to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve with fruit, crumble and whipped cream.

Cardamom Crumble

1/2 cup plain flour
50 g butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp powdered green cardamom (made by running the seeds inside 5-6 cardamom pods through a food processor, also readily available in most Indian supermarkets)
1/4 cup sliced almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (160 degrees fan-forced). Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Place all the ingredients in a medium bowl. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the mixture until the mixture contains large and small crumbs. Spread the mixture in a thin layer onto the prepared baking tray. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until crumble is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool down completely before use.