Tiramisu

Tiramisu meaning ‘pick-me -up’ is a classic coffee flavored Italian dessert prepared with mascarpone cheese,espresso and ladyfingers.It has become very popular recently and is served in almost every Italian restaurants. You either love it or hate it,there’s no middle ground..

This was my second attempt to prepare Tiramisu,first time I completely messed it up.This time I followed Olive Garden’s recipe as per Shn’s suggestion and it came out perfect.Thanks Shn.

I’ve made a few changes here and there.This is how i made it…

Ingredients:-

Egg yolks – Of 3 eggs
Whole Milk – 1/4 cup
Granulated sugar – 1 cup

Mascarpone cheese – 3 cups
Cream cheese – 8 ounces or 1 cup
Vanilla Extract – 1/4 tsp

Ladyfingers /savioardi biscuits- around 25

Italian Coffee powder – 5tbsp (Use any Italian brand if possible.I used Illy brand.Other brands are Cello, Lavazza, Kimbo, Mauro etc.)
Hot water – 1 cup (for making espresso)

Kahlua or any coffee liquor – 1/4 cup

Cocoa powder/Grated chocolate- as needed

Method:-

Fill half of a medium sized sauce pan with water and allow it to boil.In a metal bowl whisk egg yolks,milk and sugar together.Simmer the boiling water and place the metal bowl on top of the sauce pan and stir the mixture often for 10-15 mts.You can also use double boiler instead of doing this.When the sugar dissolves,the egg mixture will begin to thicken.Remove from the sauce pan and allow it to cool.

To prepare espresso,boil 1 cup of water in a stove/microwave.Take it off from heat and add coffee powder into it.Mix it well and strain the coffee through a sieve.Allow it to cool.(Instead of preparing this you can buy espresso from Starbucks or any other coffee shop.)

Combine mascarpone cheese,cream cheese and vanilla extract together using an electric mixture.You’ve to mix it until it turns almost creamy with small chunks remaining.Add egg yolk mixture to the cheese mixture and combine them together.

Combine 1/4 cup cooled espresso and 1/4 cup Kahlua together.

Pour espresso-Kahlua mix into a flat plate so that it’ll be easy to dip the ladyfingers.Keep it aside.Dip each ladyfingers into the espresso-Kahlua mix and arrange it in a serving dish side by side.Ladyfingers will get soaked up very fast ,but we dont want to soak an entire ladyfinger.Dip only the bottom half of the ladyfinger ,the top half has to be dry.You can break the ladyfingers to fit into the dish.

Spoon half of the mascarpone cheese mixture over the ladys fingers.Sprinkle grated chocolate/cocoa powder over it.(I’ve used both chocolate and cocoa powder.Use it according to your choice.)Again arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers over the cocoa/chocolate powder.Spoon remaining cheese mixture over ladyfingers and spread it evenly.

Cover and chill it for 8-10 hrs.Before serving sprinkle grated chocolate/cocoa powder over it.Cut into equal size square pieces and serve.

Note :- You can also prepare Tiramisu in dessert glasses/parfait glasses,so you can serve it right then and also you can save the extra time it takes to cut into desired shape.

Info:-I’ve read here that mascarpone cheese is available in Fiorano Restorante in Bangalore.I dont know about other cities.Also if anyone knows about the availability of ladyfingers in India,can you please let me know about it?

Related recipes:-

Pushpa’s Tiramisu Recipe

Eggless Tiramisu Recipe

Ladyfingers Recipe

Tiramisu without Alchohol from Shab’s Cuisine