The pregame talk at French Fridays with Dorie had me a little nervous about this dish. Luckily it turned out. Friday's challenge made a wonderful Valentine's Day dessert.
Coeur à la Crème, or heart of cream, is a deliciously light, rich dessert made with cream cheese, sugar and cream. Cream cheese is combined with confectioners' sugar, a pinch of salt and vanilla extract. Heavy cream is beaten and folded into the mixture. It is pored into a heart shape mold that has small drain holes, and allowed to solidify. It spends some time in the refrigerator and is unmolded and served with your choice of sauce.
We enjoy panna cotta in my house. It is a chilled mixture of cream, milk, sugar, vanilla and gelatin. The desserts have very similar ingredients, I was interested in seeing which one was preferred by my family. We typically serve the panna cotta with a berry coulis, I thought that I would do the same with this dessert.
I have no wonderful porcelain heart mold, nor do I want one at this point in my life. We are trying to downsize. I look at the collection of corningware that I have had since before I got married in 1986 and I contemplate giving them away. Do I really need them all? Soon it will be just the two of us for most meals. I'd like to think that I could make do with less.
Anyway, I used the colander. I lined it with coffee filters that had been moistened. Poured the whole delicious mixture into it and let it drain into a bowl. I put it in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Put a plate on the mixture and flipped it over. It lacked in visual appeal, a rounded blob complete with wrinkled from the coffee filters.
I sliced it up and covered it with the berry coulis. That helped a little.
Everyone enjoyed it. I enjoy the simplicity of the panna cotta more, fail safe easy dessert. I put one of the couers aside for my daughter who will be taking the megabus home from college to say goodbye to her beautiful yellow lab. Broken hearts are in all of our futures.
Beautifully done!! Love your more rustic sauce...lovely.
ReplyDeletePS...as the mom of a 13 y/o yellow lab, I am so, so sorry. My heart aches for you :(
Scout has a tumor in her skull, she just has gotten worse, very quickly. Such a sad time.
DeleteThis was the perfect Valentine's Day Desssert for sure! I did buy the mold (and like you I am trying not to buy more dishes for the kitchen) but I found this on sale and I am glad I bought it...it is such an easy dessert and looks impressive ... I will be making this again!
ReplyDeleteWe moved into a smaller kitchen, so we are trying to purge..
DeleteBeautiful dessert - and an interesting comparison to panna cotta. I hadn't thought about that connection before. I have to say I like the coeur a la creme better. ;) Nice work on this one.
ReplyDeleteMy husband likes it more as well
DeleteGlad you enjoyed this and got it to work out without acquiring special gadgets (though I love my special gadgets....i just need to resolve to actually USE them :) My heart breaks to think of your pet. We are big lab lovers and at one time had one of each color in our house. A 3 ring circus for sure but much love. They are family. You will be in my thoughts this week -
ReplyDeleteShe was our first dog, we love labs as well.
DeleteI knew this dessert reminded me of something but couldn't place it. It's panna cotta. Thanks for pointing that out.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry about Scout. I'll share a favorite quote from my 2012 calendar with you and your family:
"Good dogs are with us for a little while to teach us how to love like it's our job.... because it is.
Look here to see the beautiful picture that goes with it.
http://www.curlygirldesign.com/shop/all-cards/good-dogs-card/
It was a good recipe. Wow, so sorry about your yellow lab...what a heartbreak. When I lost my red minpin Chloe in 2011 I put this saying on her forever picture: Don't cry because it's over; smile because it happened.
ReplyDeleteYours looks delicious with the sauce.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry to hear about Scout. We've always had dogs in my family and the loss of each one has been heartbreaking. She looks like a lovely girl.
Beautiful dessert.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about Scout. Labs are such lovely friends.
I'm so sorry you will be saying your goodbyes. So glad you have the opportunity to do so. (I prefer panna cotta more as well.)
ReplyDeleteI will have to get myself a porcelain heart mold too.
ReplyDeleteThe coffee filter sounds like a good alternative too.
Using coffee filters was a perfect idea for draining. I use it for draining my yogurt when I make yogurt cheese. Yours looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about your beloved Scout!
So sorry to hear about having to say goodbye. I love how you improvised with the tools that you had for this recipe. Using the coffee filters in place of cheesecloth is such a great idea. You have made me want to try panna cotta. Your serving with the raspberry coulis is beautiful.
ReplyDelete