The final coeur à la crème experiment I conducted was really just to indulge myself, but I thought I’d pass it along. I really love those chewy peppermint candies oldskool companies like Brach’s sell during the Christmas holidays, and I thought peppermint might be a complementary flavor with the sweet, vanilla-y version of my standard coeur base.
I made these with just a tiny bit of coeur base I had leftover from the savory coeur à la crème appetizers I made the other day, so there was just enough to fit into a couple of shot glasses. I took a pic so you could see how pretty they look when the peppermint pieces melt into the mixture.
Peppermint Coeur à la Crèmes
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sour cream or crème fraîche
1/4 c. whipping cream
1/4 c. superfine sugar, or substitute 1/4 c. regular sugar and 1/8 c. powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla
a few drops peppermint extract, to taste
1/2 c. crushed peppermint sticks
Blend everything but the crushed peppermint sticks until rich and creamy. Fold in peppermint stick pieces.
Scoop mixture into a cheesecloth-lined large (7-in) coeur à la crème mold or three small (4-in) molds. Tap on counter to settle mix, fold excess cheesecloth over top, then refrigerate overnight on a plate to catch drips. Unmold and garnish with whipped cream, red decorating sugar, fresh mint leaves, and/or more crushed peppermint.
10 February 2008 at 6:45 pm
Be still my lonely valentine’s day heart! I did not believe that my long fetishized favorite dessert could be improved upon, but leave it to you to wow me. Brava, ma bella!
10 February 2008 at 6:52 pm
Awww, you just come up here and we’ll set you right up. Miss u.
11 February 2008 at 11:19 am
I can tell that your honey is going to be pampered on Valentine’s Day…supposedly we’re not celebrating, but I might just have to pop in with a surprise… these are beautiful!
11 February 2008 at 4:41 pm
Thank you! In truth, he doesn’t like peppermint. These were for me, hence the little shot glasses. :) But he gobbled down the bresaola coeur in a matter of minutes!!!
13 February 2008 at 10:15 am
If you have any leftover peppermints (candy canes also work for this), try an old Hardy family tradition: pulverize them in the blender and add chocolate ice cream and milk (or vanilla ice cream, milk and chocolate sauce). Voila, chocolate peppermint shake. We used to make them after Christmas to use up the candy canes from the tree. Best served with big juicy cheeseburgers and potato chips, and you can lose the Christmas weight later on when the sun comes back out.
14 February 2008 at 3:24 pm
Janet, I do, actually, a whole tin of stick peppermints from Christmas. Sadly — gasp — our blender is broken and I just haven’t gotten it together enough to get it fixed. But yum that shake sure does sound good. So do the burgers. And the sun coming out. :)