Instead of using vanilla bean, I buy vanilla bean paste. Never tried it? It works well, and is less expensive, and you can see the pretty vanilla bean seeds. I measured 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. The prep takes just a few minutes, and the recipe takes less than five minutes!
I wet a piece of cheesecloth, and set it into the mold, pressing it into the corners.
The texture of the cheese filling is very light-- like a mousse. Pour that into the mold.
What I did, next, was to lift the mold a little bit-- dropping it, to settled the filling. Then, I tucked over the edges of the cheese cloth and covered the Coeur a la Creme. This took very little time, at all!
2 Tablespoons should do it! The alcohol does burn off, so I let this cook a minute or two longer. Next, straining the pureed fruit is worth the extra few minutes. Using a fine mesh sieve, I pour about 1/2 of the pureed fruit, and use a spatula to kind of push the juice and to move around the seed. Raspberries have a lot of seeds!Instant Clearjel, which I buy from King Arthur Flour. I like that it thickens fruit fillings, without clouding it-- like cornstarch or flour. But, you can use whatever you like-- or you can go with a thin sauce altogether. I use about 1 Tablespoon, add some of the sauce and whisk like crazy (which is hard to do and photograph at the same time).
One last time, I run the coulis sauce with a fine sieve. See? There were a few lumps! I like to pour mine into a squeeze bottle, or you can store it in a glass mason jar. It keeps for at least a week, but we usually finish it off sooner. So, the next day was February 14th--
Well, there was some moisture on the tray! Now, for the moment of truth--
I placed a glass dish on top of the mold, and gently tugged at a corner of the cheese cloth. It gave! Whew, it came out in one piece!
Traditionally, you want to add the raspberry coulis sauce around the heart. If I had fresh raspberries, they would have made a pretty garnish. I even considered shaving some chocolate on top, but decided it against it. By now, my husband was going "wow"!
I was surprised how soft the Coeur a la Creme turned out to be. It wasn't the least bit firm...
... I added the raspberry coulis sauce and garnished it with the sparse mint leaves from the garden-- and two frozen raspberries.
Happy Valentine's Day, Craig! He loved it! He loved it so much that he had seconds-- as did I. This dessert is the perfect finish to a full dinner-- it's mousse like texture is light. We didn't think that was too sweet. I did make a special dinner,and I will blog that one in the next few days. I promise, because it was delicious! This dessert doesn't have to be exclusively for Valentine's Day. To be completely honest, you really don't need a heart mold. Maybe if I used ricotta cheese (and I will experiment with that) there might be a bigger need to let the filling "weep". I'm even toying with an idea on how to use this filling for a different dessert.
Even if you don't make a Coeur a la Creme, anytime soon-- the raspberry coulis sauce is something I enjoy making year-round.
Valentine's Day is a special day for me-- Cupid's arrow struck on Valentine's Day, Craig proposed the following Valentine's Day, and we were married 11 months later. I like to make our own Valentine's Day Dinner, with a lot of love. I hope that all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I sure did! (Psssssssst, Craig always shrieks when I post his photo. LOL)