You might notice a distinct lack of heart-shaped-ness in this week’s dish. I couldn’t bring myself to buy the traditional moulds for this dessert, so substituted a colander, instead. We’re not big fans of Valentine’s Day around here. We’d rather celebrate Kevin’s birthday, which is within a few days of the holiday. When we first started dating, we had a tentative conversation about it:
“So, I’m not really into the whole Valentine’s Day thing, are you?”
“No, not at all! That’s so great we’re on the same page!”
Obviously, reconstructing conversations is outside of my skills set, but you get the idea. We’d had partners in the past who celebrated it and it was a relief to both of us to be able to let it go. It’s one of those holidays that engenders the sort of high expectations that can lead to disastrous results – like New Year’s Eve, but with more self-esteem involved. Sis Boom Blog’s Trevor has a story that tells it so much better than I could, so I’ll leave it at that.
I’ve not tasted this dessert yet, though I’ve tasted all its components, so perhaps I’ve tasted it after all. My no coeur in this crème version of this week’s recipe is going to taste pretty fabulous. Instead of liqueur, I added a couple of teaspoons of Campbell’s Gold amaretto-spiked honey. Drizzled on top is more of the honey and Dorie’s bittersweet chocolate sauce. (I should have stuck with just the chocolate sauce for drizzling purposes, as the honey made everything a little bit smeary. Oh, well.)
With this dessert and a pot of chocolate sauce in the fridge, I think we’re set for a cosy weekend. Happy Valentine’s Day to those who celebrate it and a very relaxing weekend to all.
You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Coeur à la Crème
One Wet Foot 
Lovely! I’m sure it will taste awesome, because it certainly looks awesome! I love the amaretto-honey idea, that sounds like a nice pairing to go with this. And the chocolate can’t hurt! Nice job, and hope you have a great weekend!
Thanks, Sara! The honey added a nice touch to this, though the liqueurs Dorie suggested also sound great. I thought this flavour might work nicely with the chocolate sauce, and it did.
well your round version goes well with your story of sans valentines day hype!!! looks good with the chocolate sauce and the honey doesn’t really show in the picture. Happy February!
Thanks. Happy February to you, too!
I didn’t quite get to this, and haven’t caught up on posts, but I’m happy to see there are non-lovers of Valentines Day besides me. Like New Years Eve, it’s too many high expectations. But alas, even though I’d figured out how to make the heart shape sans special mold, I just didn’t get to this one. Maybe in the coming days/week, since I keep reading that it tastes delicious. Yours looks lovely with its chocolate ribbons. Hope Kevin’s birthday is even happier!!!
Thanks, Candy! We’ve stretched his birthday out to a week-long celebration, so he’s been having lots of fun. I hope you get ’round to making this, because it’s good.
I totally agree with the “stretching out” the birthday celebrations… so much fun to have, so little time!
This. Looks. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks so much! Glad you stopped by.
You managed to make your dessert look gorgeous, mould or no mould. I really would love to lick the chocolate sauce off the top.
Ha! I would have been tempted, too, but luckily there is a whole pot of chocolate sauce in the fridge, which was just begging to have the leftover scraps of kiwi fruit dipped into it.
I love the chocolate, I love the kiwi and I love the spiked honey. It looks and sounds delicious!
Thanks, Terra. I liked how the tartness of the kiwi worked with the bittersweet chocolate, the tangy creamcheese and the honey. Very moreish.
Kiwi. You had me at kiwi.
Trevor’s story sounds like it belongs in a book of short stories. I would SO buy that book. Epic story.
Thanks, Cher. I’ll be lining up with you to buy Trevor’s book, too.
As you will have seen from my post, I don’t really believe a mold is necessary 😉 Looks good and I love the idea of the honey!
Thanks, Mardi! The honey was a good match with the other flavours.
A gorgeous looking coeur a la creme, Teresa! Love your presentation! The Amaretto honey sounds so delicious! I’ve never seen that before.
Ditto to Cher on buying a book of short stories by Trevor! Love the way his sense of humor comes through in everything he writes!
Thanks, Kathy. My mother discovered Campbell’s Gold, or rather, a friend of hers introduced her to the place. It’s great.
Great colors and presentation ! I enjoyed the “red” version of this (although I too had a colander for a shaper….) but it was fun to see how you used this wonderful recipe with the Kiwi/chocolate/honey combo. I loved this so much that I plan to make it as often as my hips allow, so seeing the non-holiday specific version is very inspiring. Great post ~
My nieces want me to show them how to make it and Kevin’s already trying to decide which occasion we could use as an excuse to have it again!
lol. thanks for the shoutout my dear. I have at least a dozen more Valentine’s stories to share that give further color to why “I’m not really into the whole Valentine’s Day thing.” I have only scratched the surface. but let me say I am LOVING your visual treatment of the dish here. Bonus points for not bowing to convention and using the heart shape.
No problem, Trevor – I loved your post and am looking forward to hearing more of your dreaded V-Day stories in the future. I’m really happy with the way it turned out. No hearts here!
Teresa, what an impressive dessert -(obviously) I really like the “domed shape” and the kiwi slices add such a nice splash of color (and taste) – together with the chocolate and amaretto-spiked honey this sounds like one fabulous dessert for any day of the week!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Thanks so much, Andrea!
You did a smashing job without the mold! I like the idea of kiwi with this dessert, too…such a lovely garnish.
Thanks, Liz – the tartness of the kiwi worked really well with the other flavours and it’s such a gorgeous-looking fruit, too.
I love the way your decorated your creme. And, I hope that Kevin’s birthday celebration was fun. i LOVE birthday celebrations, for anyone. Have a lovely week.
Thanks, Betsy! His birthday turned out really well – it’s so much fun to spoil someone, isn’t it? You have a great week, too!
If I had not stumbled upon the mold at the thrift store, I know I would have just used one of my colanders. I LOVE how yours turned out, Teresa. The drizzle of chocolate sauce is so pretty and the contrast of the slices of kiwi is just beautiful. Happy Belated Birthday to Kevin!