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Cardamom Caramel Ice Cream Sandwiches

Crisp butter cookies with creamy dulce de leche and cardamom ice cream sandwiched in between.

By tastykitchen · From Open Recipes · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Condensed milk and cardamom work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 33 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 10
Prep6 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Chill a metal bowl and beaters for 15 minutes. Whip the heavy cream to soft peaks, about 3 to 4 minutes.

  2. In another bowl, whisk the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and ground cardamom until smooth.

  3. Fold the whipped cream into the condensed milk mixture in two additions until no streaks remain.

  4. Line a 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment. Spread half the mixture in the pan, dollop half the dulce de leche over it, swirl lightly, then top with the remaining mixture and smooth the surface.

  5. Spoon the remaining dulce de leche over the top and swirl gently. Freeze uncovered for at least 6 hours until firm.

  6. Let the loaf sit at room temperature for 5 minutes, then cut it into 10 even portions about the size of a cookie.

  7. Place 10 cookies flat side up. Set one ice cream portion on each, then top with a second cookie and press gently.

  8. Wrap each sandwich individually in parchment or plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour before serving.

By tastykitchen. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Condensed milk + cardamomtop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Cream + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together41,494 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Vanilla + cardamomtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together237 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Vanilla + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together19,983 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Vanilla + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together12,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

Vanilla and cream share little aroma chemistry, yet 12,294 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (condensed milk, cream, cardamom, butter):

  1. Coconutbetter flavor fit
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Strawberryabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against condensed milk, cream, cardamom, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).