First tell us how you made it!!
Ideas? just with fresh strawberries....but that may be a few months away!
Linda C

I would let neither "off season" nor anything else dissuade me from making those famous Frozen Lemon Cream Sandwiches if I had extra creme fraiche on hand...

Here is a link that might be useful: Yum

I have always understood it could be used instead of sour cream...

What I can't understand is why it's so expensive to purchase at the store, when it can be so easily made at home.

susy, I think the same about a lot of things, like hummus. Five ingredients and 30 seconds in the food processor....

So, James, how DID you make that creme fraiche? I just made 5 quarts of homemade yogurt last night, so I'm ready for a new project!

Oh, and I second the lemon cream sandwiches.

Annie

I used 1 cup of whipping cream and about two tablespoons of buttermilk. I made it about noon and let it sit on the counter until the next morning then put it in the fridge. It turned out kind of like a mild, really thick sour cream. Annie, I made hummus this weekend too, I like mine a lot better than what I get at the supermarket. I've got another cup of the creme fraiche going right now and I'm going to explore the sweet angle with it.

Oh yes, James, I like homemade hummus better too, I cut down the lemon and increase the garlic and sometimes I toss in a piece or two of roasted red pepper and it's a lovely pink color AND delicious!

OK, now I have to try the creme fraiche.....

Annie

Just a brief OT question. Does hummus freeze well? I'm getting into POOFing. I like to make hummus, sometimes starting with a bag of dried garbanzos.

Good info on the creme fraiche. Thanks.

Jim

Jim, my personal favorite use for Creme Fraiche is to dollop it in black bean soup.

Here's a funny article from Serious Eats about Creme Fraiche with a couple of interesting recipes.

Freeze hummus? Darn, I don't know, I've never tried. Now I'm going to go home and put my last bit in the freezer tonight, just to see. I never seem to have any leftover to freeze, somehow.

Annie

Well, phooey. I got inspired by this thread and finally figured I'd try making some creme fraiche. I combined Jim's recipe (which seemed too simple to actually work) with another one I found that said you should heat the cream to 105 degrees and use only one tablespoon of buttermilk. So I heated it and used two tablespoons--and nothing. It's approaching 48 hours out on the counter, and the cream may have thickened about 5 percent over what it was originally. Hardly a rich, luscious, dollopy substance.

Could something have been wrong with my cream or my buttermilk? This isn't exactly a complicated recipe!

I will leave that for someone else to answer Maureen as I don't know and have a question of my own.

Pat's referenced article stated that Creme Fraiche was thicker than sour cream. I have always been disappointed in mine because it was far thinner than sour cream. How is it supposed to be?

You can stand a spoon up in it when it's cold. It gets runnier when you heat it. We use it for anything and everything needing cream. It doesn't split on cooking.

Is Creme Fraiche similar in taste and texture to the Italian Mascarpone Cheese? It sounds and looks so similar. Can it be used in place of C.F.?

Maureen if I had to take a guess I would say the heat killed the buttermilk cultures. Either that or there weren't any live cultures in the buttermilk to begin with.
Joann

That's strange, you could never stand a spoon up in mine no matter how cold it was. It was always so thin that it was difficult to make the Lemon Cream Sandwiches with it. I don't know what I could have done wrong.

We make Wolfgang Puck's salmon, creme fraiche, and caviar pizza fairly often. If I don't have caviar, I sprinkle on some capers. It's good either way.

Wolfgang Puck's Pizza

Ingredients
1 recipe Pizza Dough
16 ounces smoked salmon, sliced paper-thin
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, cut into julienne strips
1/4 bunch fresh dill, minced, plush 4 small sprigs for garnish
1 cup sour cream or crème fraîche
Freshly ground pepper
4 heaping tablespoons domestic golden caviar
4 heaping teaspoons black caviar

Preparation

Before you are ready to bake the pizzas, preheat the oven with a pizza stone inside for 30 minutes to 500 degrees F.

After the dough has been rolled or stretched into four 8-inch circles, place the pizzas on a lightly floured wooden peel. Brush the center of each pizza to within 1 inch of the edge with olive oil and sprinkle it with some of red onion. Slide the pizza onto the stone and bake 8 to 12 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Mix the dill with the sour cream or creme fraiche and freshly ground pepper to taste. Transfer the pizzas to heated dinner plates and spread them with the sour cream mixture.

Divide the salmon, and arrange decoratively over the cream.

Place a spoonful of golden caviar in the center of each pizza, then spoon a little of the black caviar into the center of the golden caviar. Cut each pizza into fourths and serve immediately.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cute video with Wolfgang Puck making pizza

I would agree that the heat killed the cultures on Maureens go at it.

I'd now use that "soft set" as just regular buttermilk in recipes to use it.

I never heat when I make..just as simple as Jim said..mix 1 c cream to 2 T buttermilk, let rest over night and refrigerate.

I just wanted to mention another way to make creme fraiche using equal amounts heavy cream and sour cream. (See below.) Also, when we have a fruit salad, I stir a little powdered sugar into creme fraiche for a simple dressing.

From the Silver Palate Cookbook:
1 cup heavy cream (not ultra-pasteurized)
1 cup dairy sour cream
1. Whisk heavy cream and sour cream together in a bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand in the kitchen or other reasonably warm spot overnight, or until thickened. In cold weather this may take as long as 24 hours.
2. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, after which the creme fraiche will be quite thick. The tart flavor will continue to develop as the creme fraiche sits in the refrigerator.

I guess it must have been the heat. I'm sure the buttermilk had cultures in it, because it said "Farm Fresh from Maine" right on the label. ;o) No, really, it was a local brand that's considered very good. I'm surprised, because the advice to heat the cream came from a source that's pretty trustworthy--see the link below--and the photo of hers definitely does not look like what I ended up with. Mine looks kind of like watery yogurt.

I'll try again today without heat. This concoction's been standing out on the counter for almost three days now. I should probably toss it for safety, yes?

Here is a link that might be useful: The creme fraiche that led me astray

Maureen, I would for sure toss that one and start over. What I do now is open the container of whipping cream and pour in the buttermilk, shake it up good and leave it on the counter for about 12 hrs. After a day in the ice box I transfer it to a plastic container thing with a lid.

For some reason I just came home with Whipping Cream and Buttermilk??? is it because of this thread or AnnT's Potato, Bacon Creme Fraiche recipe on the New Recipe thread??? I dunno...but I guess I should get some started tonight. LOL