Nonna’s Tiramisu
Years and years ago, I made tiramisu for a boyfriend, with the help of a good Italian friend from high school. It turned out great, but I haven’t made it since. About a month ago, my husband, and some family and I went to a wine club that we are new members of for a private dinner, and tiramisu was for dessert that night. The tiramisu was good, but the cookie still had some bite to it, and I felt like I could make it better.
Fast forward two weeks later, over my lunch break, I found myself at McCall’s Cake Decorating store in Toronto for some Christmas baking ingredients. Surprisingly, they were selling ladyfingers, and since I wanted to make tiramisu, I bought them. I asked the girl behind the counter if she thought I could make two pans of tiramisu with the amount of lady fingers I had. She told me she would ask the woman that was in the basement, as she makes them all the time. From the basement, a lovely, little Italian Grandma comes up, and proceeds, in broken English, to tell me the recipe she has used for 30 years! 1 egg, 1 spoonful of sugar, and 100 grams of mascarpone, is what she said. She told me that for an 8×10 pan, she uses 5 eggs, 5 spoonfuls of sugar, and 500 grams of mascarpone. I thought that was all she was going to share, but then she kept going! She told me to separate the eggs, and beat the yolks with the sugar and then the mascarpone.
Till it looks like this.
In a separate bowl, beat your egg whites until they reach a soft peak.
Like this.
Fold the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture.
This is what you end up with. Just the right amount of sweetness.
I will tell you, that the container of mascarpone that I bought was only 475 grams, which I knew was 25 grams short from what Nonna told me to use! But, I figured, I’d be fine. In truth, and this is just between you and me, I think 6 eggs, 6 spoonfuls of sugar, and 600 grams of mascarpone would have been better, as we all felt that it tasted a bit heavy on the coffee and could have used a bit more custard. BUT, it was still damn good and needs to be shared.
Nonna's Tiramisu
Ingredients
- 3 cups of espresso cooled
- 1 package of ladyfingers about 50 ladyfingers
- 5 eggs separated
- 5 tablespoons of sugar
- 500 grams of mascarpone
- Cocoa for dusting
Instructions
- Working quickly, dip each lady finger, one at a time into the espresso, on both sides. Don't let the ladyfingers sit in the espresso, as they will absorb way too much liquid. A quick dip.
- Place each ladyfinger side by side, to fill in the space of the pan.
- Once your bottom layer has been filled with ladyfingers, put half of your custard on top and spread smooth.
- Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers.
- Finish with the remainder of your custard.
- Dust generously with cocoa to finish.
- Enjoy!!!
(Source: Boss Of The Apple Sauce)
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