This Valentines day (or any day for that matter), make your sweet heart a traditional French dessert: Coeur a la Creme with Strawberry Sauce. Better than the heart shaped mold it's prepared in is the explosion of Creamy, lemony flavors! Surrounding this masterpiece, as if the Creamy Heart of goodness wasn't enough, is a sea of strawberry sauce.

Step 1: Getting Started

To make this dessert you'll need some special equipment and a few ingredients.

Coeur A La Creme Mold (I've found it cheapest on Amazon ; however if you don't mind a dome shape you can use a large sieve)

Ingredients
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups heavy cream, cold
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped of its seeds or 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Sauce
1 pound frozen whole strawberries
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons sugar

Step 2: The Procedure

1. Prepare the Coeur a la Creme mold by lining it with 2 paper towels. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the bit of paper towel that touches the bottom of the mold with water. This will allow you to nestle the paper into the shape of the heart more easily.

2. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese until light and fluffy, just about 1 minute. Add in the cream, and beat until just before the mixture looks like whipped cream. Add in the sugar, vanilla seeds, and lemon zest, and whip until the mixture does resemble whipped cream.

3. Decant the cream cheese mixture into the paper towel-lined heart-shaped mold. Fold the excess paper towel over the top, and set the mold inside a shallow bowl to catch the liquid that will drain out. Chill in the fridge overnight.

4. To make the sauce, put the strawberries, water, lemon juice, and sugar in a sauce pan on high heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the sugar is dissolved and the strawberries are soft. Chill the sauce in the fridge.

5. Invert the creamy heart in a large, shallow bowl/plate. Pour some strawberry sauce all around the outside, so the heart is floating in a pool of red sauce.

Enjoy!!!