DELICIOUS INDIVIDUAL TIRAMISU
Buonjiorno! As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, Brad & I have a small group of good friends that get together about once a month for what we call our Comfort Food Dinners. Each month the host couple picks a theme and provides the main course. Everyone else contributes to the dinner in keeping with the theme and brings along a lovely bottle of wine, or 2. The friends that hosted our most recent dinner once owned an Italian Restaurant and have some outstanding Italian recipes. So they decided on an Italian theme for our Comfort Food Dinner and made a delicious lasagne as the main course. I volunteered to bring the desert, so in keeping with the Italian theme I made Tiramisu with a twist, preparing delicious individual Tiramisu.
I feel that when you bring food to someone else’s house you should come prepared with everything needed to serve your dish. I actually think it’s somewhat rude to rely on a busy hostess to come up with serving utensils and dishes for something brought by another. So, in an effort to avoid that I thought I’d prepare my Tiramisu in small glasses, one for each person at the table.
And today I thought I’d show you how to make my recipe for Delicious Individual Tiramisu.
Start by brewing 1 cup of strong espresso coffee. I make mine in my 6-Cup Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker. Set the coffee aside to cool while you prepare your Zabaione.
Zabaione is a classic Italian custard made with egg yolks and sugar that is whipped to incorporate a lot of air. To prepare your Zabaione add 6 large egg yolks and 1 cup of granulated sugar to the top of a double boiler. Bring the water in the double boiler to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Using a whisk or electric hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar continuously for about 8 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the custard thickens and becomes lemon-yellow in color.
Remove the Zabaione from the heat. Add 1 1/2 cups of Mascarpone cheese and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract to the Zabaione. Beat or whisk until the cheese is well incorporated. Now place the Zabaione in the refrigerator to cool.
Next whip 1 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
Remove the cooled Zabaione from the refrigerator and pour it into the bowl of whipped cream.
Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the Zabaione into the whipped cream until it is well combined. Then return the mixture to the refrigerator while you prep the ladyfingers and coffee.
To make your delicious individual Tiramisu you will need 32 Lady Fingers. I like to use the “Soft” Lady Fingers that are sold in the bakery section of my local supermarket. They are like sponge cake and have been split down the middle. Trader Joe’s also sells soft Lady Fingers. Other brands of lady fingers are hard and cookie-like in texture, such as the traditional “Savoiardi” type. They are fine too but may not be split in half, which is not ideal for this recipe.
Carefully divide the 32 Lady Fingers into 62 halves. You will use 8 halves for each individual Tiramisu.
Pour the cooled espresso coffee into a small, flat bottom vessel and add 1/2 cup of Amaretto Almond Liqueur to the coffee. In a truly authentic Tiramisu you would actually use Marsala Wine or a coffee flavored liqueur such as Tia Maria or Kahlúa. But because I love almond flavor so much, my Tiramisu with a twist calls for Amaretto. You can leave the liquor out all together or use whichever flavor you prefer. If you decide to use a coffee liquor you may want to substitute the almond extra with a coffee or vanilla extract instead.
Remove your custard from the refrigerator and assemble your Lady Fingers, coffee/liqueur mixture, and your glasses in a staging area. I used eight, 8 ounce clear glasses that measured 3.5 inches tall by 3 inches wide.
Quickly dip the halved Lady Fingers in and out of the coffee mixture. Leave them in too long and the Lady Fingers will fall apart. Place 6 halves along the outside edge of the glasses.
Using a teaspoon, carefully spoon the custard into the center of the glasses, gently pressing down as you go.
Leave enough room to place 2 more halved Lady Fingers on top.
Add a final layer of custard on top. Repeat this process until you fill all your glasses. This recipe is a perfect amount to fill eight, 8 ounce glasses. Refrigerate your individual Tiramisu for a minimum of 4 hours.
Just before serving combine 2 ounces of good quality cocoa powder with 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar. Using a small sieve, dust the tops of each delicious individual tiramisu with the sweetened cocoa.
Serve and enjoy!
Here’s the handy printable recipe!
- 1 Cup Strong Espresso Coffee, Cooled
- 6 Large Egg Yolks
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1½ Cups Mascarpone Cheese
- ½ Teaspoon Almond Extract
- 1¾ Cups Heavy Whipping Cream
- 32 Lady Fingers, Halved
- ½ cup of Amaretto Almond Liqueur
- 2 Ounces Good Quality Cocoa Powder
- 2 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar
- Brew 1 cup of strong espresso coffee. I make mine in my 6-Cup Bialetti Stovetop Espresso Maker. Set the coffee aside to cool while you prepare your Zabaione.
- Add egg yolks and granulated sugar to the top of a double boiler.
- Bring the water in the double boiler to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer.
- Using a whisk or electric hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar continuously for about 8 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the custard thickens and becomes lemon-yellow in color.
- Remove the Zabaione from the heat.
- Add the Mascarpone cheese and almond extract to the Zabaione.
- Beat or whisk until the cheese is well incorporated.
- Place the Zabaione in the refrigerator to cool.
- Whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
- Remove the cooled Zabaione from the refrigerator and pour it into the bowl of whipped cream.
- Using a large rubber spatula, gently fold the Zabaione into the whipped cream until it is well combined.
- Return the mixture to the refrigerator.
- Carefully divide the 32 Lady Fingers into 62 halves. You will use 8 halves for each individual Tiramisu.
- Pour the cooled espresso coffee into a small, flat bottom vessel and add the Amaretto Almond Liqueur.
- Remove your custard from the refrigerator and assemble your Lady Fingers, coffee/liqueur mixture, and your glasses in a staging area.
- I used eight, 8 ounce clear glasses that measured 3.5 inches tall by 3 inches wide.
- Quickly dip the halved Lady Fingers in and out of the coffee mixture.
- Leave them in too long and the Lady Fingers will fall apart.
- Place 6 halves along the outside edge of the glasses.
- Using a teaspoon, carefully spoon the custard into the center of the glasses, gently pressing down as you go.
- Leave enough room at the top to place 2 more halved Lady Fingers on top.
- Add a final layer of custard on top. Repeat this process until you fill all your glasses.
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours.
- Just before serving combine cocoa powder and powdered sugar.
- Using a small sieve, dust the tops of each individual tiramisu with the sweetened cocoa.
- Serve and enjoy!
So there you have it: DELICIOUS INDIVIDUAL TIRAMISU
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