Tiramisu -an essay in decadence

Our good friend and ultrarunner Jenny hosted a wonderful dinner party for a few "Damascus-y types" just days before her BIG run at the Mountain Masochist Trail Run a few weeks ago. From hors d'oeuvres to dessert it was scumptious and matched only by her subsequent 9hr 45min finish time of those 53miles Masochist miles a couple of days later. Together -mind boggling, but she can tell that story.

Anyways, her dessert was tiramisu. I was inspired to try my own hand in the endeavor.

Besides, I've always been curious about its most ravishing of ingredients -that most excellent of soft cheeses -mascarpone. We have a share of a milk cow so fresh, raw cream is handy on a weekly basis. With a starter from cheesemaking.com, mascarpone is the easiest of cheeses to make. Heat a quart of cream to 86°, stir in the starter, pour into a clean mason jar, cover, leave 12hr at room temp to set, pour into a strainer lined with cheesecloth (fine), let drain for 12hrs, and voila. If you've never had it, promise me you will.

Our next accomplice in decadence is ladyfingers (recipe). Quite bland as far as cookies go. I lean more toward a brownie-type and ladyfingers are the opposite -light, airy, spongy, and the definition of persnickety to make. Fortunately, the ladies for tiramisu don't have to be beauty queens to work well. Basically, you whip egg yolk and sugar, sift cake flour onto the mix and let stand. Whip the egg whites ino a merainge. Gently fold the merainge into the flour/egg yolk mix so as to maintain a fluffy texture.


Put into a pastry sack with a half inch nozzle and pipe out 3" lines of the foamy batter.
















Bake 8-10 mins. They will be a little crisp and and little spongy.

Now the filling (recipe). Essentially it is a dalliance of whipping fat and sugar into a lather of ecstasy.

After separating 6 eggs, put the yolks and sugar into a double boiler and stir constantly for 10 min.





















Let it cool slightly, add the mascarpone, and beat until smooth and creamy.
























In another bowl. beat heavy cream until stiff. I used store-bought cream this time but plan to experiment. By hand with a spatula, folded these two together gently, until just barely of one color and consistency.

Back to the ladies. Put them all in a covered container larger than a quart jar, but smaller than a washing machine. A gallon jar is about right or slightly smaller. Add about a half a cup of some combination of coffee and chocolate liqueurs. I love coffee flavoring, but erring on the side of chocolate is a weakness of mine. Tumble them around until all the liquid is absorbed.

Use pieces of the cookies to make a pie shell in a glass dish or a springform pan.






A 9" pan is too big for the volume these recipes produce. A 6" is probably too small. I'll have to experiment again on that also. You can drizzle in more liqueur if you think some are a little dry, but don't drowned them. Now carefully spoon about half the filling into the shell.
























Dust the top with cocoa powder and put down another layer of ladies. (Yes, you can drizzle again.)























Spoon in the remaining filling, dust with cocoa powder again. Top the whole affair off with dark chocolate shaved off a bar with a vegetable peeler. You just made some of the best tiramisu on the planet.







I promise.

PS. Later in the day, Jenny, Dennett and I, attended our first Hash Hound Harriers ramble. THAT was an essay in decadence.