Copycat Ruth’s Chris Sweet Vanilla Cream with Berries

Photo by Jim Hitchcock

A few weeks ago, I had a wonderful birthday dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House.  The food was absolutely to-die-for!  I remember feeling a little bit sad when I took my last bite of filet mignon.  It was heavenly!  Just when I thought I couldn’t eat another bite, the waiter brought our dessert.  It was a small dish of vanilla cream with fresh berries on top.

Oh…my…god!  Words cannot describe how good that stuff was!  I knew I had to figure out to make this for myself! 

As soon as I came home that night, I got right on the internet to research recipes. There were hundreds of variations, but nothing seemed to fit the bill so I improvised.  I took (what I thought were) the best parts of several different recipes and made my own.

Here’s what I came up with:

The Recipe

1 cup heavy cream
3 tbsp sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place cream and 1 tbsp of sugar in a saucepan on the stove. Mix well and heat until it starts to boil. (Be careful so that cream will not boil over.)

Crack eggs to separate yolks from whites. In a medium bowl, mix egg yolks and 2 tbsp of sugar until well blended and sugar is dissolved.

Add a few spoonfuls of simmering cream to egg mixture and whisk. Repeat this step one more time.

Add remaining cream to egg mixture.  Make a double boiler and place mixture on top.  Cook for 8 – 12 minutes, until sauce thickens and coats the back of the spatula, stirring constantly.

Use the spatula to pull the sauce away from the sides and fold it back into the center of the bowl.

When thickened, pass through a fine mesh sieve into a container.  Immediately place container into an ice bath.  Once cooled, store in the refrigerator.

Is it a keeper?

What a luxurious dessert!  It turned out very rich and creamy and silky smooth.  It was everything I had remembered.  I will definitely be making this dessert again and again!

A word of caution though.  This recipe has a lot of hands on time.  You can’t really walk away from it while you’re making it.  It’s definitely a food of love.

This dessert is quite impressive — enough for company.  I can’t wait to have our friends over for dinner so I can make this for them, or for a Mother’s Day brunch or dinner (hint, hint!).

And, I’m imagining how good this will be with fresh blueberries from our yard this summer!  Yum!

Do you have a favorite copycat recipe?

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