Tony's Tiramisu, Dessert

Tony's Tiramisu Dessert by Tony van Roon
"This delightful and exquisite, but very rich, Italian dessert is surely a blessing for your taste-buds. Good dessert to serve on special occasions. I make it for my own birthday and serve it with Christmas dinner."

Serves 12

      1 Lb Tub Italian Mascarpone Cheese (500gram)
      6 Tbsp white confectionar's Sugar (not icing sugar!)
      6 Large Eggs 
      1 oz liqueur of your choice (TiaMaria, Kahlua, Marsala, etc)
      3 packages Lady Fingers (or more depending on your dish)
  1-1/2 Cup *very* strong coffee
    1/2 liter whipping cream
      1 Tbsp Droste Dutch Cocoa (Dutch Toko or Dutch Shop)
      1 Tbsp Instant espresso coffee (Master Choice)

Make sure all ingredients and eggs are at room temperature!

Seperate egg yolks from egg whites.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy smooth. (I put the beated egg yolk/egg white mixture (seperately) through a ziff to take out all the little lumps). Add the Mascarpone* cream cheese and liquor. Beat again until creamy and smooth.

Beat egg whites until fluffy and firm, but not dry!. Fold this into the Mascarpone mixture. Put in the refrigerator while preparing the next step below.

Dip the Lady fingers into the strong coffee and arrange them on the bottom of a nice large glass caserole dish or something. Cut some in half and arrange those to the sides. Next, sprinkle with a generous amount of liqueur. Then the layers* of cream cheese and whipped cream. (Optional: Garnish the top layer with semisweet chocolate shavings on top of the cocoa powder. Looks really good!)

*A layer consist of the following:
Lady Fingers, Mascarpone Cream cheese mixture, thin layer of whipping cream, a sprinkle of dutch cocoa/espresso instant coffee. I usually get 3 layers.

Cover with plastic wrap and refriggerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight. This recipe freezes very well. Thaw in refrigerator several hours.

Notes: The real Tiramisu uses Italian Mascarpone Cheese and so do I. Mascarpone is sold at Italian Deli's and well stocked supermarkets. You can substitute with the ordinary cream cheese but for the taste there is just no comparison. 1/2 lb tubs are also available to serve 6.
And a cautionary note: Tiramisu deals with *raw* eggs and you may expose yourself with Salmonella. As such, only use eggs from a tested, reputable source. Having said that, I have never encountered any problems with contamination, salmonella, etc with eggs coming from our local supermarkets.

"Dutch Cocao" is just that. I tried substituting with "Fry's Cocao Powder" but it is *NOT* the same. Dutch Cocoa is much darker and not as sweet as the stuff from Fry's (although Fry's cocao is realy good).

Also, I tried a bit cheaper brand of Mascarpone Cream Cheese, $8 instead of $10.50. Big mistake. The difference is clearly noticable as soon if you take the lid off. About 30% or so thinner. Really affects the overal consistency of the filling. So watch what you're buying and don't skimp on a couple of dollars. I purchased the Mascarpone at our local supermarket (Zehrs) instead of the European Italian specialty store what I usually do. But hey, if you don't try you never will find out. (my excuse).

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