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-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 Companion, KEWR 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, 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. 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.
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.
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 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.
Ironically, although I did buy the mold, I ran out of time to make this! I will make it eventually.
I hope everything turns out splendidly for you! I love how independent you are! (I’m afraid my mother had never considered my independence to be a good quality, either…)
Have a lovely weekend – we’re heading up north to visit John’s family.
That apron is so cute Mary! I never got around to making this one, but it does sound interesting if I can skip the mold and make a `bombe a la creme´. I can´t think of this dessert being anything but a triumph for you tonight. Enjoy it!
Can’t wait to complete the last picture for the blog and to taste this celestial combination.
I can’t wait for the reveal.
I didn’t think I could justify buying more “kitchen stuff” but I loved this darn recipe so much, that I want those cute little heart molds. The colander I used worked just fine but a heart is a heart 🙂 I am certain yours will be phenomenal and this is absolutely a recipe I look forward to making for company. Easy, quick , delish and looks gorgeous even when you use a strainer as a mold – what’s not to love ?? Looking forward to the pictures ~
Hope it turns out alright – taste-wise and presentation-wise! I love how you describe your Dorie book. Cookbooks with character are always the best. Have a good weekend!
My AMFT book is truly a love letter to Dorie judging by how weathered it looks. It’s certainly LOVED! And, um, the SUSPENSE – can’t wait to see pics of finished hearts!
I hope all turned out well for you with this delicious recipe. How fun it is to cook with a good
friend, makes everything more special. I’ll keep you posted on my frozen dessert.
Enjoy your dinner party.
I am sure your Coeur a la creme will be perfect! Waiting with baited breath for the reveal! Love your apron! My AMFT book really has character…and is very well broken in! It has been used more than any other cookbook in my very large collection! Happy weekend, Mary!!
I’m in Dallas with our son and his family. I’ve made the Creme but had no heart mold. Is in the fridge in a cheesecloth lined strainer. After 24 hours there is not a drop of liquid! I’m not sure what to think.
I’m looking forward to seeing your hearts and finding out which version you prefer. I think we’re a pretty amiable group, even on those occasions when we don’t follow directions!
Ha! You are a real Dorista trouper to lug a kitchen aid on vacation!
Aaaaaannnnddddd – the verdict is?
You brought your KA. You are a woman after my own heart. (I’ve been known to bring certain “kitchen things” along with me on trips… My family thinks I am insane)
As does my family. “Mom, you are certifiable.” I consider it a compliment.
Mary, this is such a fun post – why not write about some delicious “work in progress” – I am sure that your creamy, dreamy desserts turned out fantastic and wonderful and all the dinner guests were totally impressed! Of course, I am totally jealous of your proper heart-shaped molds, they look so very elegant and stylish.
Enjoy the long weekend!
P.S.: We are mailing our “Thank You Note” tomorrow morning, hopefully, it will arrive within a week in Aspen.
You are a gal after my own heart!!! Now that I own 3 KA’s, I think I should just keep one in the back of the car…cooking at my parent’s house with their avocado green hand mixer is just plain archaic!!! Can’t wait to hear your review.
Tenaciously independent? That’s exactly how I imagine you, though I do mean that as a compliment. How fun that you could cook this with a friend? How did it come out? Did everyone like it?
Well, I can’t wait to hear how it turned out. I love all your process photos, Mary. You may have paid more for your molds, but how neat that you found them on the Vegas strip. 🙂 Next time I am definitely adding some framboise to the raspberry coulis. P.S. I LOVE your apron!
Looks like it’s going to turn out great!