February starts right out of the gate with the birthday of a rather excellent person.
I love that person so this month is about love…foods I love, the favorite dishes of my favorite people, tastes and techniques that I bat my eyes at ferociously and other heart thumping things. This is a laid back, bohemian party. Bring yourself. Bring a friend. Bring a book. There is no single definition for love around here. Bring your love.
Shade throwers…you gotta sit this one out.
I’m starting the love-in with simple, luscious Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream.
You need heavy cream, fresh vanilla bean, sugar and a blender or the willingness to whisk like you mean it.
I don’t measure when I make fresh whipped cream. It’s a luxury I let myself have. And I totally shake the sugar straight out of the bag into the blender bowl. I like to roll the dice or shake the sugar if you will. If you’re gonna do that then shake lightly or pay the consequences of having a sudden sugar landslide.
Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream is good on all sorts of things that I’ll be posting about this month…preferably without the big pancake shadow next time.
If you don’t have whole vanilla bean you can use vanilla extract. But if you can treat yourself to an intoxicating moment then use fresh vanilla beans scraped straight out of the pod and into heavy cream.
And if you’ve never split open a fresh vanilla bean pod then…listen, my bohemian party friend, you gotta try it! Fresh vanilla has a rich, silky, luxurious smell. It’ll make you swoony unless you don’t like the smell of vanilla or something crazy like that.
Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream is easy to make and seems fancy. Serve it with berries or get a little layered like this:
The recipe for Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream Parfait will appear here this weekend because I’m hanging out more often this month. Wednesdays, wondrous as they are, just aren’t enough. I have a whole lotta love!
See you soon for layers of berries with mint, whipped cream and toasted coconut.
Recipe: Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream
Summary: Homemade whipped cream with fresh vanilla beans
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream, very cold
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- fresh vanilla beans scraped from a two inch piece of pod
Instructions
- Pour the heavy cream into your blender bowl and add the sugar.
- Cut a two inch piece from a vanilla bean pod (the whole pod will likely be longer). *Store remainder in airtight bag
- Split the vanilla bean pod lengthwise using a paring knife.
- Scrape the vanilla beans from each pod half using the tip of your paring knife…and caution. Do this over the blender bowl. *Vanilla beans are sticky so try not to touch them too much. (substitute 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract)
- Blend on high with a whisk attachment if you have one for 30 seconds.
- Stop the blender and taste. Add sugar if you want a sweeter concoction.
- Whip on high speed until you see peaks form approx. 2 minutes.
- Serve on berries, pie, ice cream, pastry, pancakes, hot chocolate…and enjoy!
Preparation time: 5 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 4 small servings or two big ole portions
Copyright © fatpiginthemarket. Recipe by fat pig. Microformatting by hRecipe.
God, that’s luscious. I could fall asleep on that fluffy vanilla cloud, and I’m sure my dreams would be nothing short of heavenly… I adore that you’re going to post a parfait recipe. Parfaits are just the best ever, aren’t they? They look so elegant and refined, but they’re such a cinch to whip up. (Pun intended, of course!)
Love this recipe and I love the fact that you never measure for your whipped cream.