Persian Caramel Sauce

I have an entire line of cookbooks and magazines. I’m a huge fan of Food & Wine.  I thought to myself I bet a lot of people are seeking recipes not realizing that they have everything they need on their bookshelf and in their kitchen pantry to create tantalizing joy. If you don’t have an at-home library, that’s great this blog is your new library. Welcome! 

I received the idea to explore Persian culture from a dream. I saw a beautiful floral rose background with my brownie on top with the perfect amount of caramel sauce, nuts, and dates. I have brand new Cardamon pods in my kitchen cabinet sitting there inquiring when am I going to use them. I decided that the day has to come to explore this spice. 

Cardamon is a tricky spice. With the right infusion, it can be citrusy, minty, spicy, and/or highly fragrant. It pairs well with cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and ginger. In terms of health, Cardamom is good for digestive challenges. 

Persian desserts are often topped with delicious dates, nuts, dried fruit, etc. This recipe has all of the sweet Persia in it! Have fun and enjoy the videos! 

This recipe has been adapted from The Best of Food & Wine Vol. 14 with a few modifications. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon hibiscus rose tea
• 1 cardamom pod 
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 1/ cup light brown sugar
• ½ Beyond Good aka Madecasse vanilla bean pod split
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• ¼ rose water (health food store)

Directions

In a medium saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over moderately guilty.  Remove from heat and add the tea and cardamom. Let steep for 30 minutes. Strain the cream through a fine-mesh sieve into a small saucepan. Keep warm over very low heat.

Wipe out the medium saucepan and add the sugar, corn syrup, the vanilla bean and seeds and 3 tablespoons of water. Insert a candy thermometer and simmer the mixture over moderately high heat until it reaches 292 degrees Fahrenheit, about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat and stir in the warm cream, the butter, and honey and cook over moderately low heat until the caramel reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit, 1 to 2 minutes.

Remove the vanilla bean from the caramel and stir in the Rosewater. Transfer to a heat proof container and let cool slightly. I used a glass mason jar to cool and store the caramel sauce. Serve the caramel sauce over ice cream or a warm brownie.