Better then sex Tiramisu

I don’t really remember when I started to make my own home made tiramisu. All I remember is that it was quite expensive to buy one at the supermarket and growing up my parents never actually bought it. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have any. I use to put the store bought tiramisu in the freezer so it was nice and cold. Of course it is noting compared to home made.

One time I had the best tiramisu ever! We were in Rome and were wondering around for a place to eat. Somewhere close by the Forum we found this tiny restaurant which was packed with people. If it is that busy the food can’t be bad, so we gave it a try. They squeezed us in and our table was barely big enough to hold all the food. I forgot what we ate that night, but the tiramisu was to die for. It was very light, fluffy not too sweet. I wish I remembered where the restaurant was. We tried to find it again, but unfortunately we just couldn’t remember where it was. Such a pity…

Anyway at one point I decided to try to make tiramisu and I never got to write down the receipe. Of course I never made it as good as the restaurant, but the last one I made came pretty close.

BETTER THEN SEX TIRAMISU

What you need to feed at least 8 people, who can and will eat it twice:

-          5 eggs yokes

-          1 package lady fingers

-          1 package Italian macaroons (amaretti cookies)

-          1 kilo mascarpone

-          1 cup of very strong espresso

-          ½ liter whipping cream

-          5 table spoons of sugar

-          a lot of Amaretto

-          coco powder

These were all the ingredients I used.

First I separated the egg whites from the yokes. The whites I put in the fridge and a couple days later I used it to make chocolate soufflé.

Then I added 4 table spoons of sugar, some amaretto and mixed everything together till the sugar dissolves and the eggs become pale yellow.

Since I am a little scared to work with raw eggs I like to "cook" the egg/sugar mixture a little.

I put the bowl with the mixture on a pan with boiling water. Make sure you don’t let the bowl hit the boiling water otherwise you’ll get scrambled sweet eggs. The trick is to let the steam do the cooking. It is kinda like making custard.

You’ll have to continue mixing so everything cooks evenly.

The mixing bowl is a lot bigger then the pan, which is just the way you want it to be. The bowl will get hot so be careful. 

You’ll know when it is cooked when you whip the spoon and your whip mark stays. It will take about 5 minutes to cook it. Put 2 tea spoons of coffee, stir it and set it aside to cool. 

Since I love my big mixing bowl I put the egg mixture in another bowl so I could use the same bowl again for my whipping cream.  

I added 1 table spoons of sugar and whipped it just enough so it was still a little bit runny. Then I added some more amaretto. If it isn't sweet enough you can always add a little bit extra sugar and mix it again. Make sure you don't over mix it.

In a different bowl I put the mascarpone. This time I used quite a lot, but if you see the tray I used…it wasn’t even enough to fill it.

I mixed it with a bit of amaretto and some table spoons of coffee till it was nice and smooth. Then it was time to add the egg mixture.

When everything is mixed it is time to fold it into the whipped cream.

Since it is a lot just add everything little by little. Then use the mixer to mix everything. Make sure you do a last taste test to see if it is sweet enough. Last chance to add suger if needed. 

Before I layered the lady fingers in a big backing tray, sugar side up, I put some amaretto on the bottom. This time I decided not to dip them in the coffee first, but to sprinkle the coffee on top. I also sprinkled some more amaretto.

I then dusted the lady fingers with some coco powder and used half of the mascarpone to cover them.

To enhance the almond flavor I used amaretti cookies as a middle layer. On every cookie I poured some amaretto and dust it off with coco powder.

Then I covered them with the rest of the mascarpone.

A last layer of coco powder seals the deal. The tray was so big it barely fit in my fridge.

Luckily it was very cold outside so I covered it with plastic wrap and put the whole tray went out. To bad it wasn't freezing. I think it would taste even better if it was a little bit frozen.

Nevertheless the 8 of us finished more then half a tray on Christmas Eve. There was even enough for both my sisters to take home, lucky them.

I was very happy I didn’t dip the lady fingers in the coffee. Now they were nice and cake like and not soggy at all.

The next day the 4 of us had a piece for lunch…to bad there was not enough to take home. I will have to make one soon to satisfy my tiramisu craving.