This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was a Valentine’s Day-themed dessert. Coeur à la Crème means “heart with cream”. The dessert is most traditionally made in a heart-shaped mold.
I have never had anything quite like Coeur à la Crème before. Cream cheese (I used Neufchâtel) is blended with plenty of whipped cream and a bit of confectioner’s sugar. It is flavored with vanilla and optional liqueur. I chose to use crème de cassis.
Next, the mixture is poured into the mold and allowed to sit overnight. I appreciated that Dorie suggested using a cheesecloth-lined strainer in place of the heart-shaped Coeur à la Crème mold.
I am not quite sure how to describe this dessert. Dorie says it has “a texture so light you could fool yourself into thinking you were eating sweetened air”. That’s pretty close. I think it’s kind of like ice cream that isn’t frozen. However you describe it, I loved the flavor!
My daughter ate the serving I used for photos (she loved it!), but my husband and I waited until after she went to bed to eat ours as a Valentine’s Day treat. I served it with a home made strawberry sauce.
Catching Up
This week I also made last week’s recipe, Fresh Orange Pork Tenderloin.
We agreed with the general consensus that this dish was only OK. It was fine, but I have many other pork recipes I would prefer to make. I also didn’t care for the way the onions were cooked. I would have preferred to have them sauteed before adding the orange juice.
In other catching-up news, I also made Hachis Parmentier, which the group made in their very first month! For those who don’t have the book, it is like a French version of Shepherd’s Pie. It was homey and delicious! We all loved it.
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
From Scratch 
Kudos for the catch up. I never made the Hachis P either- Nana and I started about a month into the group and our first recipe was Helene Marie’s Apple cake. We had not made the coeur before this week either, nor had eaten it anyway and we both loved it. I still can’t get over how yummy and pretty such an easy recipe is. A great French Friday indeed !!
I can’t believe we started in on the same recipe togehter.
I love catching up…! 🙂
Glad you liked the coeur a la creme. I am with you on the pork – it was just ok.
Yay, the hachis parmentier was a favorite of mine. I just made it again for my family to use up the leftover Christmas roast beef (my mother got a little carried away and bought way too much this year.
It is one of my go-tos, Always yummy and easy to put together.
Hachis Parmentier is one of my all-time favourites from this cookbook. Great choice for a catch up. I was lukewarm about the pork dish, too – great concept, but the results aren’t stunning. Coeur à la crème, on the other hand, that’s a keeper. Yours has a lovely dome shape.
Good round up. Hope you all enjoyed your cream heart. It’s fun to have desserts like that after all the little people are settled in for the night.
I just made up the Hachis Parmentier a couple of months ago and was pleasantly surprised. Now, I just have (re)make Gerard’s mustard tart (no photographic evidence) and the Vietnamese style soup/ pho and I am caught up. Whew.
I’m with you – those two are also ones that I want to make again. I was also surprised at how good the orange almond tart was – I should make that again while oranges are at their best.
Your dessert looks so yummy! I haven’t made it (yet?), but your result tempts me!
I enjoy catch up posts ’cause they serve to remind me of past favorites I want to make again. Like this the hachis…i really liked that one! Do you think it would be good if made with the celery root puree instead of plain potatoes? Hmmmmm……
You are just ahead of me on catching up on the pork tenderloin….but I have lots more to go before I’m all caught up.
Your strawberry sauce looks good with the Coeur!
I was planning on doing the pork roast this week…I think I’ll have make a few changes. Your coeur a la creme came out so very lovely!! We really loved it, too! A perfect treat for Valentine’s Day! I know I’ll be making it again!
I still have a few catchup recipes to make. You’re inspiring me. The Hachis Parmentier is one of my favorites in the book!
Both dishes look beautiful. I am glad that you enjoyed the coeur a la creme and I will have to try it with strawberries next time. If you do try the fresh orange pork again, try it with the scallions – they gave the dish such a nice, fresh flavor with the oranges.