ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It's the “Coeur a la Crème” dessert from Chef Kate Bates of Wheat and Bee Bakery.

It's a modern twist on a classic French dessert, available through the end of February at the Saint Speakeasy in the Grand Central District in St Pete. The Coeur de Creme has four main components: a rose petal sable cookie, a berry coulis, a champagne gelee, and rose scented cream cheese mousse.

Rose Petal Sable Cookie
5 oz sugar
6 oz unsalted Butter
¼ tsp salt
1 ea egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
11 oz all-purpose flour
2-3 Tbsp dried rose petals

Instructions
Cream butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment.
Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture, and combine until incorporated, scraping down the bowl.
Add in all the flour, and mix until just combined.
While the dough is soft, flatten between two sheets of parchment paper and chill.
Once dough has chilled for 20-30 minutes, roll to about ¼” thick.
Sprinkle top of dough with dried Rose Petals and roll to ⅛” thick. Cut into rounds big enough to support the heart molds.
Bake at 350F for approximately 10 minutes, just until edges are golden.
Set aside.

Berry Coulis
8oz fresh berries, any berry will do, raspberries and strawberries work best in this recipe
4 oz sugar
½ oz lemon juice

Instructions
Combine cleaned berries, sugar and lemon juice in a sauce pot.
Over low heat, cook the berries until they are soft and very juicy.
Turn up the heat to medium high and simmer berries for 2 minutes, stirring to keep the berries to keep them from burning.
Remove from heat, puree mixture with an immersion blender and strain through a sieve to remove seeds.
Set aside.

Champagne Gelee
4 oz champagne (the less expensive the better, cheap champagne creates a bigger flavor in this application)
4 oz sugar
4 oz ice cold water
¼ oz gelatin (either powdered or sheet gelatin)
2 oz berry coulis

Instructions
Combine champagne and sugar in a sauce pot over low heat, and cook until sugar is dissolved. Do not boil.
While champagne and sugar are on stove, bloom the gelatin in the measure of ice-cold water.
Once gelatin is soft, add all the gelatin and the cold water it was bloomed in, into the champagne mixture.
Cook over low heat until all the gelatin is dissolved.
Remove mixture from heat and add measure of berry coulis.
Pour half of the liquid gelee into small hemisphere molds and freeze
Set aside remainder of Gelee.

Cream Cheese Mousse
8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
4 oz powdered Sugar
3 Tbsp rose water
6 oz heavy cream
1 Tbsp vanilla paste

Instructions
Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth.
Add in rose water, and heavy cream and mix until smooth.
Scrape down the bowl and add vanilla paste.
Fill heart shaped silicon molds about halfway with the cream cheese mousse.
Place a champagne gelee hemisphere in the center of mousse and cover completely to the top of the mold with more mousse.
Tap to release any air pockets and smooth the top with an offset spatula.
Freeze molds for several hours or overnight.

Final assembly
Place a frozen cream cheese heart onto a roasting grate and pour a small amount of warmed champagne gelee over the heart to glaze it completely.
Once glazed, carefully place mousse heart onto pre-baked rose sable.
Use a little more berry coulis for sauce on the plate, nestle in the heart on the cookie and finish with fresh berries.

The Valentini Drink, courtesy of Toasted Associates
2 oz Gin
1 oz Elder Flower liqueur
1 oz Rose water simple syrup.
Squeeze of lemon

Instructions
Shake with ice.
Strain and pour over rose petal ice cubes.
Top with favorite bubbly.