Too bad there is still no internet or tv where you can smell stuff… you would have liked the smell that was coming out of my kitchen, when I was baking these little fellas ;)
As far as I know is cardamom mostly used in bakes for Christmas here in Germany. A lot of spice mixes for gingerbread or gingery cookies (Spekulatius) have cardamom – it is also used for glühwein or glogg. It smells a bit like eucalyptus – I guess koala bears would like it too :P
Anyways – in other countries it is being used all year round – for example in India – it’s a key ingredient in many curry mixes there and important for the regional cuisine. In arabic countries it is often used to flavor coffee… maybe I should try that too :)
Some time ago I made a delicious carrot cake (baked in a glass jar) – a very good combination! You might have heard about flavor pairing – it’s kind of a science that tells you what kind of foods and flavors work well together. I had a little workshop the other day about flavor pairing and learned a bit about cardamom and that it works well with tangerine for example… ;))
But that is actually not the main reason why I am talking now about cardamom…. maybe I should explain a bit more :)
Well… Desiree from the blog brutzelmania.com asked me some time ago if I wanted to do an article as a guest on her blog – as you may noticed we bloggers like to visit other blogs from time to time :) We started to talk via email and got from a visit on her blog to baking something together for my Cookie Friday to finally baking something, that had something very specific in common: cardamom…. do you get now, where the cardamom is coming from? :P
So we both baked something with cardamom – I made the brownie bites and Desire made these gingerbread cookies (hop over to her blog, if you want to know more about cardamom and get the recipe for those delicious gingerbread cookies).
Back to flavor pairing – I wanted to tell you something I think :) Cardamom works well with some other ingredients who’s flavors are similar or work well as a team… for example citrus fruits, nuts, chocolate, caramel and many other things. So what do we do? Well we combine cardamom with chocolate, tangerine zest and caramelized walnuts – booooom – perfect combination! Or besser said: very delicious! If you are interested in flavor pairing and food pairing, I can recommend this book here: Flavour Pairing: Das Spiel der Aromen
Enough said – here is the recipe!
INGREDIENTS / ZUTATEN
For the crunch & decoration:
1/2 cup (120ml) water
1/2 cup (100g) sugar
3.5 oz. (100g) walnuts
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of cardamom
For the dough:
3.5 oz. (100g) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup (120g) butter
(170g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. cocoa
2 tsp. cardamom
zest of 1/2 organic tangerine
3 eggs
1 cup (200g) sugar
walnut crunch
For the decoration:
caramelized walnuts
3.5 oz. (100g) chocolate glaze
Für den Crunch & Deko:
120ml Wasser
100g Zucker
100g Walnüsse
Prise Zimt
Prise Kardamom
Für den Teig:
100g Zartbitterschokolade, gehackt
120g Butter
170g Mehl (Type 405)
2 Tl Kakaopulver
2 Tl gemahlenen Kardamom
Abrieb einer 1/2 Bio-Mandarine
3 Eier
200g Zucker
Walnuss Crunch
Für die Deko:
karamellisierte Walnüsse
100g Vollmilchkuvertüre
DIRECTIONS / ZUBEREITUNG
1. Line a mini cupcake tin with paper liners (Ø 1.4 inch/3,5cm) and set aside.
2. Start with the caramelized walnuts for the crunch and decoration. Add water and sugar to a saucepan and heat up until it starts boiling. The sugar should dissolve completely. As soon as the mixture starts to thicken, add the walnuts and let caramelize while stirring constantly. The sugar will foam up first and then probably cristalize again – that is ok, just keep stirring until the color of the sugar starts changing its color – you have to be careful now not to burn the caramel. As soon as you have a nice caramel and all the walnuts are covered with it, remove from the heat and sprinkle cinnamon and cardamom on top and stir one last time. Transfer to a baking sheet with baking parchment and let cool down – make sure the walnuts are not sticking to each other. When cooled, chop half of the nuts for the crunch – the rest is for decoration. Set aside.
3. Chop the chocolate and add together with the butter to a heatproof bowl. Place on a pot with simmering water and let melt – mix until well combined. Let cool down again.
4. Preheat the oven to 325˚F (160°C). Mix flour with cocoa, cardamom and the zest of the tangerine and set aside. In a large bowl beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add the cooled melted chocolate (should have almost room temperature) and mix in. Add the flour mixture gradually and mix in until just combined. Add the walnut crunch and fold in. Fill into the prepared paper liners (they should be about 2/3 full) and bake in the lower third of the oven for 12-14 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool down completely on a wire rack.
5. Melt the chocolate glaze in a heatproof bowl on a pot with simmering water, let cool down a bit and decorate each brownie bite with some of the chocolate glaze and a piece of the caramelized walnuts.
1. Mini-Cupcake Bleche mit Papierförmchen (Ø 3,5cm/1.4 inch) bestücken und zur Seite stellen.
2. Mit den karamellisierten Walnüssen für den Crunch und die Deko anfangen. Das Wasser zusammen mit dem Zucker in einen Topf geben und erhitzen. Die Mischung aufkochen, bis sich der Zucker gelöst hat und alles langsam andickt. Die Walnüsse zugeben und alles unter ständigem rühren karamellisieren lassen. Der Zucker wird erst aufschäumen und dann wieder etwas kristallisieren – sobald der Zucker anfängt Farbe zu bekommen, sollte man vorsichtig sein, damit nichts verbrennt – die Walnüssen sollten komplett mit Karamell überzogen sein. Zimt und Kardamom darüber stäuben und kurz verrühren. Auf einem Backblech mit Backpapier abkühlen lassen – darauf achten, dass die Walnüsse nicht zusammenkleben. Etwa 1/2 der Nüsse kleinhacken und alles zur Seite stellen.
3. Zartbitterschokolade hacken und mit der Butter in einer hitzebeständigen Schüssel über einem Topf mit köchelndem Wasser schmelzen und dann wieder abkühlen lassen.
4. Den Ofen auf 160°C (325°F) vorheizen. Mehl mit Kakao, Kardamom und Mandarinen Abrieb vermischen und zur Seite stellen. In einer großen Schüssel die Eier mit dem Zucker aufschlagen, bis alles hell und luftig ist. Die geschmolzene Schokolade (max. noch lauwarm) zugeben und unterrühren. Mehl nach und nach zugeben und nur kurz verrühren. Gehackten Walnüsse zugeben und unterheben. Den Teig auf die vorbeireteten Förmchen verteilen (jedes etwa 2/3 voll) und im unteren Drittel des Ovens für 12-14 Minuten backen. Aus dem Ofen nehmen und auf einem Kuchengitter komplett abkühlen lassen.
5. Die Kuvertüre in einer hitzebeständigen Schüssel über einem Topf mit köchelndem Wasser schmelzen, jeweils einen Klecks auf die Törtchen geben und mit karamellisierten Walnüssen dekorieren.
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Here is a version of the recipe you can print easily.
Brownie Bites with Cardamom and Tangerine
- Prep Time: 45
- Cook Time: 14
- Total Time: 60
- Yield: 28 1x
Ingredients
For the crunch & decoration
- 1/2 cup (120ml) water
- 1/2 cup (100g) sugar
- 3.5 oz. (100g) walnuts
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of cardamom
For the dough
- 3.5 oz. (100g) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- (170g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. cocoa
- 2 tsp. cardamom
- zest of 1/2 organic tangerine
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup (200g) sugar
- walnut crunch
For the decoration
- caramelized walnuts
Instructions
- Line a mini cupcake tin with paper liners (Ø 1.4 inch/3,5cm) and set aside.
- Start with the caramelized walnuts for the crunch and decoration. Add water and sugar to a saucepan and heat up until it starts boiling. The sugar should dissolve completely. As soon as the mixture starts to thicken, add the walnuts and let caramelize while stirring constantly. The sugar will foam up first and then probably cristalize again – that is ok, just keep stirring until the color of the sugar starts changing its color – you have to be careful now not to burn the caramel. As soon as you have a nice caramel and all the walnuts are covered with it, remove from the heat and sprinkle cinnamon and cardamom on top and stir one last time. Transfer to a baking sheet with baking parchment and let cool down – make sure the walnuts are not sticking to each other. When cooled, chop half of the nuts for the crunch – the rest is for decoration. Set aside.
- Chop the chocolate and add together with the butter to a heatproof bowl. Place on a pot with simmering water and let melt – mix until well combined. Let cool down again.
- Preheat the oven to 325˚F (160°C). Mix flour with cocoa, cardamom and the zest of the tangerine and set aside. In a large bowl beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy. Slowly add the cooled melted chocolate (should have almost room temperature) and mix in. Add the flour mixture gradually and mix in until just combined. Add the walnut crunch and fold in. Fill into the prepared paper liners (they should be about 2/3 full) and bake in the lower third of the oven for 12-14 minutes. Take out of the oven and let cool down completely on a wire rack.
- Melt the chocolate glaze in a heatproof bowl on a pot with simmering water, let cool down a bit and decorate each brownie bite with some of the chocolate glaze and a piece of the caramelized walnuts.
Notes
- Enjoy flavor pairing!
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I love my job, but in between I love to bake and try new things in the kitchen. A lot of my friends and colleagues encourage me to bake - for a very simple reason: they get the leftovers - and it seems they like it most of the time ;)
I tried the brownie bites and the flavor is amazing! But yours look so perfect and my fell in the middle after I took them out of the oven, so I dusted them with powdered sugar and plopped a walnut in the cavity. Boohoo! Made your ginger crescents the other day and they were fabulous. I have a friend that is going through chemo and radiation, so the ginger and cardamom recipes are a desire of my heart to help him get through this by improving his nutritional quality of life. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Gigi,
glad you liked the brownie bites and crescents – it is very nice of you to bake all that for your friend – it’s so good to have friends around when you need them the most!
I hope he gets well soon and the treatment helps!
All the best!
Marc