Coeur a la Creme

Coeur a la Creme is a classic French dessert topped with raspberry sauce. You may want to experiment with other fruit reduction sauces.

You will need one whole vanilla bean. The vanilla bean can be replaced with one tablespoon of vanilla bean paste if you like.  The photos and recipe are courtesy of Jeffery Lambert. His blog is no longer active, but we found a similar recipe at Ina Garten’s site.

Serves

6-8 servings

Equipment

Measuring Cups

Measuring Spoons

Mixing Bowl(s)

Electric or hand mixer

Couer a la cream mold (or something similar)

Cheesecloth

Blender or food processor

Prep time

 20m

Cook Time

 4m

Ingredients 

12 oz cream cheese

1 ¼ cup confectioners sugar

2 ½ cups heavy cream 

2 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp lemon zest

1 vanilla bean 

½ pint of raspberries 

½ granulated sugar

1 cup raspberry jam 

1 tbsp chambord

Instructions

1. Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl using an electric mixer on high speed with a paddle attatchment for a couple of minutes.  If your cream cheese is not room temp, this will not work well.

Use a sharp knife to split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds inside. Use the empty pod to make Vanilla Sugar or Real Vanilla Coffee. Change to a whisk attachment on your mixer.  On low speed add cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest,  and seeds scraped from vanilla bean.  The mixture will have a thick whipped cream texture.

Line a couer a la cream mold with cheesecloth.  The mold is heart shaped porcelain and has small holes in the bottom for drainage of excess liquids. Place it on a plate.  Pour mixture into cheesecloth, fold the ends over the top and refrigerate over night or at least 12 hours.  Unmold the cream onto a plate and drizzle with a fruit reduction or sauce such as the traditional raspberry sauce below.

1. Raspberry Sauce:

Put the raspberries, sugar and a quarter cup of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over low heat.  Simmer for five minutes.

Pour the mixture into a food processor and blend smooth.  Chill before serving.  Sprinkle with extra berries if desired.  I make the same recipe with blueberries sometimes for the red, white and blue look.