1 x 435g Carême Vanilla Bean Sweet Shortcrust Pastry, Defrosted
250ml Pedro Ximenez sherry
250ml apple juice
4 cardamom pods, lightly bruised
1 stick cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 blood plums, halved
1L good-quality vanilla ice-cream, slightly softened at room temperature
Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC (160ºC fan).
Use a 7cm cookie cutter to cut 18 circles from the pastry. Place circles onto a lined baking tray then bake for 10 -12minutes. Remove from oven and allow biscuits to cool completely. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Combine sherry, apple juice, cardamom, cinnamon and vanilla extract in a medium saucepan. Add 250ml water then bring to the boil over high heat. Drop heat to low and add plums, allow to simmer for 10-15 minutes or until plums are very soft.
Strain through a fine sieve, reserving liquid.
Remove skin and seeds from plums, discard. In a separate bowl from liquid use a spatula to press the plum flesh through a fine sieve. Reserve the puree.
Clean out the saucepan, return strained liquid and bring to a boil over a medium-high heat. Allow to boil for around 10 minutes or until the liquid has reduced to a thick syrup, around 1/3 of a cup.
Add syrup to the plum puree and allow to cool completely then fold through the softened ice-cream and return to freezer for at least 4 hours to harden.
Use an ice-cream scoop to make generous scoops of the ice-cream then sandwich between two biscuits to serve.
Note: Best prepared the day before or at least five hours before serving.