Easy Tiramisu

Tiramisu is “pick-me-up” in Italian…believe me when you’ve had it you’ll realise its a real “pick-me-up”..from the moment you put that first teaspoon in mouth, and savour it until you scrape the glass to get every last morsel in your mouth!

We all love Tiramisu and Paolo’s near our apartment in Kuala Lumpur made the best! He had them in individual dessert glasses and made two versions – with and without alcohol. Unfortunately, Paolo has retired and closed down his restaurant. Most of the time Tiramisu in restaurants are far too sweet and outside Kuwait, they usually use Marsala liqueur.

I discovered this video by Gordon Ramsay and he shows how easy it is to make Tiramisu. His recipe is below and it is not sugar-free nor carb-free.

INGREDIENTS
(Makes 6 dessert glasses)

150 ml whipping cream
8 oz mascarpone cheese (1 tub purchased)
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp icing sugar (divided into 2 portions)
3 shots of espresso coffee, cold
26-30 savoiardi biscuits (“lady’s fingers”)

Decoration:
Unsweetened cocoa powder
Dark chocolate, shaved or grated (Optional)

DIRECTIONS

Take out the mascarpone cheese, place it in a bowl and leave it to soften at room temperature.

In another bowl, put the whipping cream and 4 tbsp of the sugar and whip. I used a hand mixer. only until it becomes almost stiff peaks. Do not over beat or it will become clumpy and even turn to butter. Set aside.

Add the vanilla extract, one shot of the COLD espresso to the softened mascarpone cheese and whisk till medium soft peaks. Add the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and fold in. Mix well with a whisk. Set aside.

Add some water to the 2 shots of cold coffee and add 2 tbsp icing sugar if desired. Set up the dessert glasses or martini glasses.

Dip the lady’s fingers” (savoiardi biscuits) in coffee mixture one at a time (watch the video) and place in the glasses, breaking the biscuits to fit.

Add a portion of the mascarpone cream mixture to each glass and level out if desired. Place in fridge to chill and set. It only takes 20 minutes!

To serve, grate some dark chocolate if desired. Sprinkle the cocoa powder.

If you want to make the tiramisu in a single dish, (it should be quite deep) dip the biscuits in coffee and lay them one by one to cover the base of the dish. Pour half of the cheese and cream mixture over the biscuits. Level with a spatula. Sprinkle some chocolate powder if desired. Arrange another layer of biscuits dipped in coffee over the mixture then, pour in the rest of the cheese and cream mixture. Chill. Just before serving, grate some dark chocolate if desired. Sprinkle the cocoa powder.