I’ve always been intrigued by this heart-shaped dessert molded in its only special ceramic dish with drainage holes. I was glad when coeur à la crème was chosen this month for French Fridays with Dorie. I thought it would make the perfect dessert for our Valentine’s dinner.

I’d never had this dessert before, so had no preconceived notions. This time, I didn’t have the special equipment lurking in my basement, so I went in search of coeur à la crème molds. I found a selection at my new favorite kitchen store, Kitchen Outfitters. They offered both a large one and smaller individual ones. I opted for one large rather than a set of small ones because without knowing whether I would like the recipe, it was more economical (i.e. cheaper).

I’d describe coeur à la crème like a cream cheese mousse. It was sort of like cheesecake, but much airier. You whip some cream cheese in the stand mixer with powdered sugar, vanilla, and liqueur (I used Chambord). Then you whip some cream and fold it into the cream cheese. The concoction gets wrapped in cheesecloth and set in the mold to drain overnight, though my coeur didn’t give off much liquid at all.

I pureed some frozen raspberries with powdered sugar to make a coulis to serve on top of the sliced coeur. I thought this was good, though I probably wouldn’t make it again. Howard, predictably, did not like it. Sigh…

We don’t post the recipes, but you can find it in Dorie Greenspan’s book Around My French Table. To see what other Doristas thought of this recipe and whether their Valentines liked it more than mine, check out their posts here.

On a more positive note, Howard did enjoy the rest of the meal. I made oven-roasted scallops, Israeli couscous and broccoli rabe. And, we drank a lovely bottle of Cava, on a weeknight, so it was decadent.

And, our friend Lauren stopped by with boxes of handmade chocolates! They are gorgeous, and the ones tasted so far, delicious.