Favorite Foods Friday - Tiramisu

I love Tiramisu. I fell in love with this dessert at a popular restaurant. You know which one I'm talking about. I actually love anything with coffee (more specifically mocha) flavoring in it. I have gotten tired of paying $6 for a slice of this delectible treat so I set out to try to duplicate it. I was pretty successful. This recipe is very similar. The only problem is, it is expensive to make. Mascarpone cheese is not cheap. Hope you give it a try. Don't be intimidated by the directions, take it slowly and you will be successful too.

Tiramisu

Ingredients:

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup whole milk

1 cup granulated sugar

3 cups mascarpone cheese (this is an Italian cream cheese) - I found this at Target, but you might have to get it at an Italian specialty food store

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

20-24 lady fingers - I found these in my local store in the refridgerated bakery section. Don't cheat and use sponge cake. It's not the same thing. you can also find these at a specialty food store

1/4 cup cold espresso - I don't drink coffee so I don't know how to make espresso. While I was at Target, they have a Starbucks so I grabbed 2 shots of espresso.

1/4 cup Kahlua coffee liqueur - Had to go to the liquor store. I spent some time finding this since I am not so familiar with my local liquor store!

2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring it to a boil over medium/high heat, then reduce heat so that the water is simmering.

Wisk egg yolks, milk and sugar together in a medium metal bowl or double boiler, then place the bowl on top of the saucepan.

Stir the mixture often for 10 minutes. After the sugar dissolves, the mixture should begin to thicken and turn light yellow. Remove it from the heat to cool.

Use an electric mixer to combine mascarpone, cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix until mostly creamy, but with a few small chunks remaining. Add cooled egg yolk mixture to the cheese mixture and mix just until well-combined.


Combine espresso and Kahlua in a small bowl. Pour this mixture onto a dinner plate. One-by-one, barely touch the bottom of each lady finger in the espresso mixture. The lady finger will quickly soak up the espresso mixture, but you don't want the lady finger soaked - just a dab will do ya. The top half of each lady finger should still be dry. Arrange the soaked fingers side-by-side on the bottom of a 8x8 or 9x9- inch serving dish or baking pan. Spoon about half of the cheese mixture over the lady fingers, then repeat with a layer of soaked lady fingers on top of the cheese mixture and finally top with the remaining cheese mixture over the second layer of fingers. Spread evenly.

Cover and chill for several hours. After chilling, put 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder in a tight-mesh strainer and gently tap the side of the strainer to add an even dusting of cocoa powder over the top of the dessert.


To serve, slice the dessert twice across and down creating 9 even portions. The first serving is always the hardest to get out.

I didn't chill long enough because I was so anxious to dig in. This was also the first piece. Still looks good though!