 Each forkful is heavenly! It’s easy to make Coeur à la Crème in a heart-shaped mold. The recipe is below. Photo © copyright Peabody Rudd.
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Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Cheese-Butter-YogurtWhey To Go ~ February 2007Cheese & Romance: Coeur à la Crème
My name is Stephanie Zonis, and welcome to Whey to Go! for February 2007. Every month, we’ll delve into a new cheese-related subject, and I’ll offer a recommendation on a cheese I love. Overview: Coeur à la CrèmeCoeur à la Crème translates from the French as “heart of the cream.” Traditionally associated with Valentine’s Day, it is most often served in a heart shape. But what exactly is this dessert? It usually involves heavy cream, some sweetener, a little flavoring (which may be alcohol, lemon juice or both), perhaps an agent to color it pink (which may be Chambord or red food coloring), and a fresh, soft cheese. When not colored pink, it’s frequently served with a raspberry sauce. Beyond that, there seem to be as many recipes for it as there are cooks. The origins of this dessert seem to have been lost in the mists of time, but it’s been around for centuries. Several sources refer to it as “classic” or “timeless,” and it likely originated in France, most likely in an area with an abundance of dairy products. Like many early formulations, it could well have been a way to use up some extra cream in a cheese that was meant to be eaten fresh. No one has an explanation for the usual heart shape of Coeur à la Crème: My suspicion is that it was not molded into a heart shape at first; this seems likely to have been a later addition, but the details are lost in time. The perforated molds in which the cheese is made allow the excess liquid, or whey, to drip through the cheesecloth, leaving the delicious “heart” of the cream (thus the name); so we can imagine that at some point in time, a creative milkmaid decided to mold the cheese in a heart shape—perhaps in celebration of something amorous (The first recorded association of Valentine's Day with romantic love is in Geoffrey Chaucer’s poem, “Parlement of Foules,” in 1382). Making Coeur à la CrèmeIf the fresh cheese used is not perfectly smooth, such If you don’t have a pierced, heart-shaped ceramic mold, you don’t necessarily need to purchase one (the 4-ounce, individual Coeur a la Creme mold shown above is $3.99, and there are other sizes available). One older cookbook I have has a Coeur à la Crème recipe that is drained overnight in a colander in the refrigerator. After that, a heart-shaped mold (not pierced) is lined with dampened cheesecloth, and the drained mixture is packed tightly into the mold and left there until serving time. Of course, the heart-shaped mold used here is not mandatory, either. You could use individual ceramic soufflé ramekins instead, for instance. Coeur à la Crème is traditionally garnished with fresh berries (often raspberries or strawberries) and/or served with a red berry sauce to complete the Valentine’s Day theme. But depending upon the recipe you use, I wonder if a chocolate sauce couldn’t sometimes be used in place of that berry sauce. For example, if your recipe called for cream cheese or mascarpone, and was sweetened, I’d think that a chocolate sauce would be an ideal accompaniment, giving you a dessert with many elements similar to chocolate cheesecake. I haven’t tried this idea, but for many people, a chocolate sauce trumps one of berries every time! Recipe: Coeur à la Crème With Raspberry Sauce
Ingredients
*Chef O’Connell uses mascarpone, Italian cream cheese, instead of a combination of heavy cream and fresh cheese. It makes the preparation easier, since mascarpone is perfectly smooth. For Raspberry Sauce (strawberries can be substituted)
Directions
Serves 4. Cheese of the Month: Cream CheeseUsually, I’ll highlight a company here, in order to tell you about some good cheeses they produce. But this month, given the topic, plus the fact that I’ve written previous articles on both mascarpone and ricotta, I thought it was time to pay our respects to cream cheese, another soft cheese often used in Coeur à la Crème. I’m sure most of us grew up on that silver-foil-wrapped “brick” of cream cheese, and that certainly has its uses. But there’s a whole little world of smaller companies out there, all busily making other cream cheeses with much more flavor and character. These cream cheeses are so good I’ll often eat them all by themselves; they don’t need to be in a cheesecake or spread on a bagel to be consumable. Who makes these gourmet cream cheeses? There are far too many companies to list
A little online research will yield more possibilities in this vein; you may even be lucky enough to have a local creamery making cream cheese. Try something new in this toast-and-baking staple, and reward your taste buds! © Copyright 2005-2008 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. Images are the copyright of their respective owners.
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as ricotta (photo at right), it may be worked in a food processor until it is of a smooth texture. Alternatively, such cheeses are sometimes sieved to remove lumps, whisked for the same purpose, or left as they are. In most cases, the cheese is then beaten with the sweetener, flavoring, and any coloring. Heavy cream is whipped and folded into the mixture, although some recipes have cooks add the cream as a liquid and fold in beaten eggs whites, while others omit the cream altogether, sometimes substituting sour cream for the heavy cream (so much for saving on calories, but this isn’t a dessert for dieters to begin with). Following this, the cream and cheese mixture 
is typically packed into cheesecloth-lined, special ceramic molds (bottom photo at right), which may be sized for individual servings or larger. These molds have holes in them, an important feature, as the Coeur à la Crème must drain (over a plate and in the refrigerator) before it is served. The draining process allows enough liquid to drip out of the mixture so the dessert will hold its shape when it is served; I’ve seen instructions that allow for dripping times of between 2 and 24 hours. Obviously, Coeur à la Crème must be made in advance, but it is not a dessert that will keep for two weeks, either, even in the fridge. Remember, this is a dessert made with fresh cheese, so you’ll want to consume it quickly. 
here, but we’ll start with three and perhaps save the rest for a long review at a future date. The first two are not available by mail order, but have good national distribution. 