Tiramisu

Tiramisu is a decadent creamy dessert originating from Italy. In Italian, its name literally means, “pick me up.” That describes this tiramisu recipe perfectly, referring to its high-energy ingredients, strong coffee and sugar. Traditionally this is made using lady fingers. But if you are unable to find them you could use pound cake, biscotti, sponge cake, vanilla cookies, or angel food cake. To cut down on calories, you can trade the mascarpone cheese for skim milk ricotta, and use splenda or truvia in place of the sugar.  Tiramisu’s flavors taste even better when they've had a chance to blend overnight. Make this dessert the day before you serve it.

The first time I made this I used Rum. This created a much stronger flavor then when I used Brandy the second time I made it. I was never able to get a straight answer as to which version my family liked.

1/2 pound mascarpone cheese (found in the specialty cheese case in the grocery stores)
3 egg yolks
1 package ladyfingers (24 cookies in total)
4 Tablespoons sugar
4 Tablespoons brandy or unflavored rum (although they do sell an espresso flavored rum I'm going to try using next time I make this)
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 cup strong espresso coffee, cooled
3 egg whites
cocoa powder

1. Beat cheese, egg yolks, 2 Tablespoons sugar and 2 Tablespoons brandy.
2. Beat egg whites until stiff and shiny,set aside then whip cream.
3. Gently fold egg yolk mixture, egg whites and cream together. Mix espresso with remaining sugar and brandy.
4. Dip ladyfingers in espresso mixture 30-45 seconds per cookie. You want them soft but not soggy and falling apart, line dish and add 2-3 tbsp of espresso to the bottom of the dish top with half the cream mixture dust with cocoa powder. Add another layer of cookies with 2-3 tbsp of espresso and the remaining cream mixture.
5. Dust with cocoa powder.
6. Place plastic wrap over the dish
7. Refrigerate overnight.


Enjoy :)
<3 Laura ^.^