Tiramisu
As an Italian girl, I grew up eating tiramisu. This classic Italian dessert is so rich and delicious. My Nonna always had Ladyfinger cookies at her house and would give my cousins and me big glasses of milk to dip the cookies in. Tiramisu is the adult version of this. It’s basically Ladyfingers dipped in coffee and kahlua topped with custard, whipped cream and cocoa powder. I also add chocolate chips which is not traditional but I love them in this dessert.
Ingredients:
- 6 egg yolks
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 2/3 cup milk
- 2 cups mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 3 tbsp powdered sugar
- 2 packages Ladyfingers (the crunchy ones like these)
- 2 cups coffee
- 1/3 cup Kahlua
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
Directions:
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, add the egg yolks and sugar and whisk until combined. Then pour in the milk, whisking constantly until it boils. Allow the mixture to gently boil for about a minute and then remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate for one hour.
Once the mixture has been chilled for an hour, transfer to a mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) and add the mascarpone cheese. Mix until fully combined and then set aside.
To make the whipped cream, use a handheld mixer (or the whisk attachment of a stand mixer) and beat the heavy whipping cream until it begins to thicken. Then add powdered sugar and continue mixing for a couple minutes until it forms stiff peaks. Then set aside.
In another bowl, add the coffee, Kahlua and vanilla and stir.
To assemble the tiramisu, start with a 9 by 13 pan and have the mascarpone custard, whipped cream, coffee mixture, cocoa powder and chocolate chips ready. First, dip each Ladyfinger, one at a time, in the coffee mixture for a couple seconds before laying it in the pan. Continue this until the bottom of the pan is covered in coffee soaked Ladyfingers. Then use a rubber spatula to spread half of the mascarpone custard over the cookies. Then, spread half of the whipped cream on top of the custard. Use a fine sieve to sprinkle the cocoa powder over the whipped cream. Then top with 1/4 cup of the mini chocolate chips. Repeat these steps one more time.
Refrigerate the tiramisu until ready to serve.
