Red fruit with mascarpone vanilla bean dip

This creamy vanilla dip tastes somewhat like a thick whipped cream.  It is the perfect complement to red fruits such as cherries and strawberries.  It tastes best when the dip is maxed together several hours in advance so that the flavors have time to blend together.  This is a good item to use as part of a brunch, dessert or picnic spread.

Ingredients:
1 8 oz. container mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. heavy cream
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 lb. strawberries
1 lb. cherries

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, mix together mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and seeds.  Add cream in two batches and mix.  Add more cream if necessary to get desired consistency.  Refrigerate of serve with red fruit.