Welcome to my first Work-in-Progress Post. This week’s French Friday with Dorie recipe is the very appropriate and élégant Coeur à la Crème.

 

The most difficult part of making this week's recipe was finding the heart molds.  I finally found two 7-inch molds at Sur La Table.........guess where???? On The Las Vegas Strip. Go figure.

The most difficult part of making this week’s recipe was finding the heart-shaped molds. I finally found two 7-inch molds at Sur La Table. Guess where???? On The Las Vegas Strip. Go figure. FANTES.COM

 

Explanation, please. According to Barron’s Food Lover’s CompanionKEWR ah la KREHM is French for heart with cream.  This classic dessert is made in a special heart-shaped mold with holes and little feet to hold it up. Cream cheese is mixed with sour cream or whipping cream (and,  sometimes confectionary sugar) and placed into the cheesecloth-lined mold. The dessert is then refrigerated overnight, during which time the whey (liquid) drains out through the perforated mold. To serve, the dessert is unmolded and garnished with a coulis and fresh fruit.

 

After beating cream cheese, confectionary sugar, salt and vanilla to a smooth and velvety texture,  we set  it aside. We whipped heavy cream until it began to hold firm peaks. (pictured here).

After beating cream cheese, confectionary sugar, salt and vanilla to a smooth and velvety texture, it was set aside. We whipped heavy cream until it just began to hold firm peaks. (pictured here).

 

Like many of you, I had seen pictures of this classic dessert in fancy food magazines but had never eaten it nor even considered making it. That’s one of the many reasons I joined FFWD. To belong to this cooking group and remain in good standing, you must cook each week ……a specific recipe for the team. 

 

We folded the cream cheese mixture gently into the whipped cream AFTER FIRST gently stirring about one-quarter of the whipped cfream mixture into the cream cheese to "lighten" it.

We folded the cream cheese mixture gently into the whipped cream AFTER FIRST gently stirring about one-quarter of the whipped cfream mixture into the cream cheese to “lighten” it. After fitting a dampened cheesecloth square into each heart, we filled the molds.

 

Admittedly, I’ve never been considered a team player.  At a recent birthday gathering I was described as “tenaciously independent” – by a family member. Although said more in exasperation than jest, it really wasn’t meant to be a compliment.

But, as a Dorista, I’ve been a pussy cat, so onward and upward to making what Dorie describes as “an indulgently luxurious coeur à la crème with a texture so light you could fool yourself into thinking you were eating sweetened air.’”

 

After filling the molds, we folded and wrapped them in the dampened cheesecloth and put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. This dessert can be made up to three days in advance.

After filling the molds, we folded and wrapped them in the dampened cheesecloth and put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. This dessert can be made up to three days in advance.

 

Realizing that I would be in Colorado for this week’s food project, I loaded and lugged my KitchenAid mixer, the non-refrigerated ingredients and two 7-inch heart-shaped molds to Aspen. My friends, Donna and Bernie, are hosting a dinner party for me tonight so I offered to bring dessert. Donna, not only a delightful hostess but also a talented cook, suggested we make this dessert together, a first for both of us.

 

For the topping (ever so slight), we made a raspberry coulis by pureeing frozen raspberries, staining the seeds, and adding framboise. Incidentally, the raspberries were from Serbia which we found interesting.

For the topping (ever so slight), we made a raspberry coulis by pureeing frozen raspberries, staining the seeds, and adding framboise. Incidentally, the raspberries were from Serbia which we found interesting.

 

Yesterday morning (Thursday), we made this little bit of dessert heaven, needing very few ingredients, with no trouble at all. It was simple. So far. So good. We refrigerated our two molds and filled a strainer with the leftover batter to chill overnight. We cannot wait until tonight to unmold our coeurs, drizzle our homemade raspberry coulis over the top, toss a few raspberries on the plate and present what we hope is party perfection to our eager taste-testing friends. May the hooping and hollering begin. Photos to follow.

 

Tonight, Donna and I will unveil  and serve our FFWD Coueur à la Crème.  Feeling  a little pressure. Just like in Nevada, my friends here are all extremely fine cooks so I want this to look beautiful and taste wonderfully. These are good friends, after all, all in fun, but this has been a "talk-in-progress" so here's hoping for another Dorie-success story.

Tonight, Donna and I will unveil and serve our FFWD Coeur à la Crème. Feeling a little pressure. Just like in Nevada, my friends here are all extremely fine cooks so I want this to look beautiful and taste wonderfully. These are good friends, after all, all in fun, but this has been a week-long “talk-in-progress” so here’s hoping for another Dorie-success story. Photos to be posted – success or failure – later this evening.

 

If you want to make this heart dessert , find the recipe here. To see the finished Posts of my colleagues, go here. I would like to urge you readers to buy the cookbook we are using for FFWD, “Around My French Table”, by Dorie Greenspan. Even if you don’t want to make some of the recipes I post every week (and, as you know, I don’t love everything), there isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t learn some terrific technique or clue or idea or variation from this cookbook. Dorie takes complicated recipes down to simple and enables the average cook (which I am)  to succeed , flourish and have a great time. My book’s cover is torn, some pages are stained, there are coffee rings on others, and many corners are dog-eared. It’s a cookbook with character, that’s for sure, and I so enjoy using it every week.