2011 Cooking Club Week 40: Tiramisu

35notout

I'm really sorry, but due to a family emergency I dont actually have time to prepare this recipe, so I will have no photos :-( However I will do my best to be as specific as possible


Ingredients:-

250g Mascarpone cheese (one tub)
3 Medium Eggs
2 tablespoons Castor Sugar
1 pack of Boudoir Biscuits
Espresso coffee - approx a double shot
(optional booze Tia Maria) *Italians neve add booze to their Tiramisu*
Cocoa powder to cover

Method.

Firstly seperate the eggs and keep 2 egg whites aside.

Mix the 3 egg yolks with the caster sugar until well blended and the mixture has gone a paler colour. I normally whisk this for about 10 minutes to make sure the sugar is not grainy at all.

Add the Mascarpone cheese and mix well. If you want to, you can add a glug of Tia Maria at this stage (it depends on how boozy you want the end result)

In a seperate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Try and get as much air as possible into the egg whites, as this will make the final result nice and light.

Add the 2 lots of egg mixture together, making sure to keep as much air in the mix as possible. Do this by using a metal spoon, and cutting and turning the mixture as opposed to stirring it.

Pour the coffee into a shallow dish - make sure it is cold! If you want more booze, then you can add some Tia Maria to the coffee. (this makes a great cooks treat of boozy coffee with the leftovers)

I prepare one large Tiramisu as opposed to individual ones - but the choice is yours. A small lasange dish is ideal but whatever you have is good. So next step is to choose your serving dish and grab the biscuits!

Dunk the biscuits SUGAR SIDE DOWN into the coffee for approx 5-10 seconds, and then place them into your serving bowl sugar side UP. This allows the coffee to abosrb into the biscuits completely.

If you leave the biscuits in the coffee too long they will become too soggy.
Rule of thumb is to allow the coffee to soak halfway up the biscuit, flip it over and it will soak the rest of it.

Continue doing this until you have one layer of biscuits. Cover the biscuits with one layer of your egg and cream mixture.

Then repeat the layers until all mixture is gone finishing with egg/cream (I usually have biscuits left over which I eat with my Tia Maria espresso )

You can break the biscuits to fill in any gaps in the layers.

Place in the fridge and chill for at least 8 hours - overnight is easiest. This allows the eggs and cream to firm up and the flavours to develop.

Just before serving, sprinkle the top with cocoa powder - or some chocolate shavings for extra decadence!

Final step - enjoy!

Once again, sorry for the lack of photos - time is just against me this weekend

unkel

35notout wrote: »

(optional booze Tia Maria) *Italians neve add booze to their Tiramisu*

Are you serious? The one time I made Tiramisu (a long, long time ago, probably when I was a student in the '80s ) I'm pretty sure I used Amaretto di Saronno

35notout

True Italian Tiramisu rarely has alcohol in it (this from my Italian friend)

However, if they are using alcohol it is usually rum and Marsala wine - I just use Tia Maria as I normally have some left over from Christmas (doesnt everyone )

Often recipes use Amaretto biscuits instead of lady fingers, however I am not a fan of almond, so that's a no-no for me.

This is my version of the recipe - easy and tasty

Swampy

Brandy and or Rum also works very well if you like a boozy Tiramusu as I do. I also always double up on the marscapone mix.

Mr Benevolent

Made this a while ago, turned out very well. Thinking of making it again this weekend.