You can make this one or two nights before you intend to serve it. If you’re serving it after dinner, it can even be made on the morning itself. You need to chill it for a minimum of 4 hours.
This recipe uses raw eggs, expresso and cognac. So it’d be good to check with your guests to see if any of them are adverse to these ingredients. Those who are pregnant may want to avoid raw eggs, although the risk of Salmonella is relatively low with eggs in Singapore. Some of my friends are battling insomnia, so I sometimes use decaffeinated coffee in place of normal expresso. Lavazza is a good choice.
Most tiramisu recipes use mascarpone cheese which has high fat content (about 30% weight). In this recipe, I combined Mascarpone with low fat Philadelphia (fat content about 15 % weight)
Ingredients:
250 grams Mascarpone cheese
Note:
This is the usual packet size they have in the local supermarts. Its a little more expensive in Singapore compared to cream cheese but unfortunately you cannot substitute this. I used cream cheese once and the dessert turned out dense with an undesirable tanginess which is in conflict with the cognac and expresso. For the same reason, adding fruits to this dessert wouldn't work too. It'd seem as though you used cheese that had gone bad (sour)
3 medium eggs
Enough lady fingers (these are ice-cream stick length biscuits that are sugar coated on one side, you can scrape off some of the sugar if you want to skimp on the calories)
2 shots Cognac or Brandy
About 14 oz espresso
Powdered unsweetened cocoa (Van Houtan is good)
Tools:
- Shallow flat bottomed bowl
- Glass/Pyrex pan
- Small strainer/screen/sifter for sieving cocoa powder onto tiramisu
- Measuring cups & spoons
- Spatula
- Cake mixer machine. You can try hand beating but I suspect it is not easy. The mixer I have is on long-term loan to me by a friend, Jennifer and its fab for whipping egg white into the soft peaks stage (see below for elaboration) in no time!
Instructions
Make the coffee first, add one shot of the cognac and a teaspoon of cocoa, then set aside to cool to room temperature while you do the rest.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Ensure that none of the yolk (fat containing) gets into the whites. Otherwise your whites may not rise nicely when whipped later.
First beat the egg yolks until pale and creamy. The colour should be a distinct shade lighter than the original yolk. You need to beat at high speed for about two minutes for this. Add mascarpone, and 1 shot of cognac. Mix until blended.
In another mixing bowl, beat eggs whites until you reach soft peaks. The egg white should be fluffy and resemble soap foam that still drops in dollops from a spoon.
CAUTION: Do not over beat and reach the stiff peak stage, for this would result in a curdy instead of smooth tiramisu mixture.
Fold beaten egg whites into mascarpone mixture. Mix only enough to blend as over mixing will deflate the egg whites.
Next we need to dip the lady fingers into expresso. To get the right amount of espresso on the biscuit, lay the finger flat in the bottom of the bowl sugared side up and immediately pull it out. The lady finger will quickly absorb the espresso. If you over-soak it in the espresso you will end up with soggy fingers instead of moist fingers. Place each finger flat in the bottom of the pan sugar side down.
Build a layer of dipped fingers across the bottom of the pan. You may have to cut or break the fingers prior to dipping into expresso to cover the edges of your pan, in order to get an even layer.
Spoon a layer of mascarpone mixture across the layer fingers. The layer should be about 1cm thick.
Dip and lay another layer of fingers on this layer of mascarpone mix. Layer them as before, sugar side down.
Spoon a second layer of mascarpone across the second layer of fingers. Add another layer of mascarpone. Usually you would have reached the top of your pan by now but you may repeat the process until you reach the top.
At this point, I usually refrigerate the tiramisu for at least 4 hours until I am about to serve it. Just before serving, use the sieve to sprinkle a thin even layer of cocoa on top of the dessert. The tiramisu will taste good for several days if refrigerated.
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