Every holiday season I try at least one new recipe to add to my holiday repertoire. This year, it is tiramisu! I’ve been wanting to try making it for a long time now, ever since I waited tables at Café Juanita, back in the days when it was owned by Peter Dow. Tiramisu was always on the menu, and it was so very good!

I used Alison Roman’s tiramisu recipe that I found on the NYT Cooking app. It was fairly straightforward and easy – yay! But I found that it needed more of the mascarpone/whipped cream, and less soaking of the lady fingers (they get too soggy if they are over soaked). So I doubled the cream mixture and went lightly on the soaking, and found that there was too much cream and the lady fingers weren’t quite soaked enough! Seriously, it’s just a matter of taste. Both times I served the tiramisu to guests and both times everybody loved it. It’s just me being extra picky.

An 8″ square cake pan holds the ladyfingers perfectly!

So the third time I made it just for my family, and we had it on Christmas Eve. I increased the cream filling a bit, and hoped for the best with the soaking of the lady fingers, and it came out just how I wanted it to!

Tiramisu

(Slightly adapted from Alison Roman’s recipe)

Cream filling:

• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese at room temperature*

For assembly:

• 1 1/2 cups espresso or strong coffee**
• 1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 24 ladyfingers (one 7 ounce package Savoiardi style)
• 1 ounce dark chocolate, shaved (optional)

1. Make the cream filling: in a large bowl, beat the egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar together until mixture has at least doubled and has become a pale yellow. Beat in the mascarpone cheese until well incorporated.
2. In a medium bowl, beat the heavy cream and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until it makes soft peaks. Fold gently into the egg yolk mixture until well combined.
3. Mix coffee and rum in a shallow bowl and set aside.
4. Dust the bottom of an 8″ x 8″ baking dish or cake pan*** with 1 tablespoon cocoa.
5. Dip ladyfingers lightly, one at a time, in the coffee/rum mixture, and make a single layer of them in the cake pan, rounded side up. Only use half of the ladyfingers (12), breaking some into smaller pieces to get them to fit. Cover the ladyfingers with half of the cream filling, then repeat the dipping of the remaining ladyfingers and cover with the rest of the cream. Dust with 1 tablespoon cocoa.
6. Cover well with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours, but really, this dessert is much better when it has chilled for 24 to 48 hours. Plan ahead for this; it’s worth it.
7. When ready to serve, cut into 9 equal portions, and sprinkle each piece with shaved chocolate (optional). Enjoy!

Notes:

*If you don’t want to end up with an extra half cup of mascarpone cheese, since it usually comes in 1 cup containers, just use 2 full cups!

**I use an Italian moka pot to make a nice strong coffee; no espresso machine necessary. I also use decaf (Dancing Goats in Olympia, WA makes the best decaf ever!). Whatever you end up using, just make sure it is strong, and you enjoy the flavor.

***I like using an 8″ x  8″ cake pan because the lady fingers fit so nicely, but for a better presentation, a pretty 8 x 8 baking dish is nice too. You decide.