Fleece on Earth

homemade tiramisu!

I had to make tiramisu for about 15 people, so a measly 4 servings wouldn't work. After looking up several sources and digging in my own recipe books, I came up with a recipe that is mostly a combination of Buca di Beppo's recipe and a recipe found on (don't laugh) cookingforengineers.com.

MAKES: 12

INGREDIENTS:
12 oz espresso or double-strong coffee
1/2 cup sugar
4 lrg egg yolks
1 egg
1/2 cup Marsala
16 oz mascarpone cheese (2 containers)

2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

40 ladyfingers (Trader Joe's work really well)

DIRECTIONS:
Stir 2 tbsp sugar into espresso and chill.

Easy zabaglione: Whisk egg yolks and egg until light and creamy. Pour in remaining sugar and whisk until well blended. Add Marsala. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, then whisk. Repeat 4-6 times, until thick and creamy.

Whip cream until soft peaks form. Beat in vanilla extract.

Beat mascarpone cheese until smooth and creamy. Pour zabaglione onto cheese and beat until smooth. Fold in whipped cream.

Dip ladyfingers in espresso mixture (one at a time) and place in pan. I used a 13x9 pan for this recipe. Spread half the cream mixture over ladyfingers. Cover with another layer of soaked ladyfingers. Spread with remaining cream mixture. Chill for at least four hours.

Note: when dipping ladyfingers, use a shallow bowl with some of the coffee mixture in it and place immediately in pan. They soak up the coffee quickly and start to crumble if you try to do four or five at a time.

Note 2: you can add liqueur to the coffee mixture. Suggestions: a shot of amaretto; a shot of Kahlua; a shot of chocolate cream liqueur... I'll confess I have even used Scotch when I didn't have anything else handy.

Before serving, sprinkle with cocoa powder. If you can find the amaretto-flavoured chocolate bars from Italy, they are even better to grate over the top.

Labels: recipes