Yesterday I spent about 3 hours trying to think of what dessert I was going to make for this week’s Project Runway Girls Night. It wasn’t until I was 3 minutes away from home that the idea came to me. TIRAMISU! And the best part…I had all the ingredients waiting for me in the kitchen!
I ran home and immediately started my online recipe search. I had less than an hour to pull it all together, so I went right to Martha Stewart’s EVERYDAY FOOD site and searched.
Below, you will find my version of the recipe. I decided to use mascarpone cheese instead of cream cheese to make it more authentic.
Ingredients:
- 2 3oz. packages ladyfingers
- 3/4 cup whipping cream
- 1 8oz. container mascarpone
- 3 tablespoons instant espresso
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 splash coffee flavored vodka (Kahlua would be fun too)
- 1 1/2 cup water
- a bunch of bittersweet chocolate shavings
Put the 3 tablespoons of instant espresso in a medium bowl combine with 3 tablespoons of boiling water. Stir until the espresso powder completely dissolved. Add the 1 1/2 cups of water and the splash of booze. Stir!
Meanwhile, whip the cream with the 1/2 cup of sugar. When you have made whipped cream, add the mascarpone and stir it up! Try not to take too many tastes, because you might get stressed at the assembly part and think you may not have enough! (I’m serious)
In the dish/bowl/serving container you are using put 3 heaping tablespoons of the cream on the bottom. Dunk each ladyfinger in the coffee mixture for less than a second. Layer them on top of the cream in the dish. When you are done with the first layer, add more cream on top. It’s like you are making a lasagna! Now continue with your second layer. Top that with the last of your cream. With the help of a potato peeler, and shave a hunk of bittersweet chocolate on top. If you do not have a hunk of bittersweet chocolate lying around like I do…. Dust the top with cocoa powder.
I let this sit in the fridge for about 45 minutes and then brought it over to my friends house. We ate it about 3 hours later and it was scrumptious! It took about 20 minutes to assemble (phew!).
Here’s a shot of the layering process:
Up close on the shavings-
Here’s the layered dish:
