makes about 8
2 cups finely ground gingersnap crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
4 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced, plus one additional pear for garnish
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/8 tsp. ground cardamom
strips of lemon zest–yellow part only
2 tbsp. sparkling white wine or pear liquor
To make the gingersnap cups, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grind the gingersnaps in a food processor, then mix in the melted butter. Either spray the muffin cups with cooking spray or use a non-stick pan. Press 2 heaping tablespoons of the crumbs into the bottom and sides of each muffin cup. Bake for 6 minutes. Watch carefully, as the thinner edges may brown too quickly. Cool completely. Then CAREFULLY invert the pan and tap the back to loosen the cups. At this point you could eat all the crumbs from the ones you accidentally smashed.
To make the sorbet, simmer pears, sugar, water, cardamom, and lemon zest for 5 minutes. Remove lemon zest.
Cool completely. Puree in a food processor. Refrigerate until cold. Freeze in an ice cream maker or in a bowl in the freezer.
Remove from the freezer an hour or so before serving, as it will be quite hard. This could probably be prevented by adding some alcohol, like a pear or orange liquer.
When ready to serve, scoop the sorbet into the gingersnap cups. Garnish with a slice of pear.
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