Tiramisu
Tiramisu in Italian means, “pick me up,” if you are feeling down maybe this famous Italian dessert will do the trick. This is my grandpa’s version of Tiramisu he lived to be 99, maybe there is something in the name.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
1 lb. mascarpone cheese, don’t use substitutes
36 Savoiardi (lady fingers)
2-1/2 cups strong Italian coffee
1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
13 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. un-sweetened cocoa
Instructions:
1. In a large bowl use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg yolks together with the sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the mascarpone cheese and mix it in with a spoon until well combined.
3. Now whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold them gently into the mascarpone mixture using a spoon. Fold it in by gently lifting the mascarpone mixture from the bottom to the top.
4. Add the cocoa to 1/3 of the mascarpone mixture and mix well.
5. Spread half of the remaining mascarpone mixture without cocoa onto the bottom of the cake dish (My dish is 11-3/4″ x 8-3/4″ and 2-1/2″ deep).
6. Quickly dip both sides of the lady fingers into the espresso coffee and place them over the mascarpone cream.
7. Cover this layer with all the chocolate mascarpone cream.
8. Add the Marsala wine to the rest of the coffee and dip the ladyfingers into it. Place them over the mascarpone chocolate cream and top with the remaining mascarpone cream.
9. Sprinkle the top with cocoa powder through a fine mesh strainer.
10. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Notes:
If you make the recipe for kids you can substitute the Marsala wine with coffee.
*If you are worried about the health risks from eating uncooked eggs I suggest that you ask your grocer for pasteurized eggs. I know that in the U.S. you can purchase them in a carton.
I made this recipe the other week and it was just beautiful. My Italian hubby said it was the best tiramisu he had ever tasted and my daughters were “over the moon” with this tiramisu. A big hit in our house, thank you for a beautiful recipe. I love the fact that there isn’t any cream in it, nobody believes me when I tell them I make tiramisu without cream!!
@Katherine: I’m glad to hear that. In Italy we don’t use cream that much in tiramisu, even if the cream is actually in one of the versions of this dessert. There’s a debate where this dessert was created, and depending on that comes the usage or not of the cream. I prefer it without.