GRANNY'S KITCHEN: Tiramisu

Ever since I saw the Cake Boss Episode where Sonny made a Tiramisu, I have been wanting to try this!

Here is my version of his Tiramisu.
 First, I mixed 6 egg yolks with 1 1/4 cup sugar.
I improvised a double boiler by doubling up a couple sauce pans.  I stirred and cooked my egg yolk/sugar mixture over boiling water for 10-15 minutes until it was creamy and yellow.  Then took it off the heat.

 After this was done, I added a pound of Marscapone cheese plus 1/4 cup cream cheese and stirred until melted.

I then folded in almost 2 cups of Cool Whip.











The recipe calls for lady fingers.  I actually used Milano double chocolate cookies in place of one box of lady fingers.  And to give a touch of authenticity, I used a box of lady fingers, too.

 I used my small spring form pan and put a ring of frosting around the inside to hold the cookies in place.  (There was STILL frosting from my original Super Bowl strawberry football project and my Easter Basket Cookie  project. )  I then snapped part of the lady finger cookies off to make them fit the side of the pan and alternated Milano cookies and lady fingers around the pan.  .

I then put the rest of te Milanos on the bottom of the pan and filled in the rest of the space with lady fingers

The recipes all call for either coffee or coffee flavored liquor.  Since I don't drink either, I had no idea what to get.  I decided to go with the coffee flavored liquor because the flavored is probably not coffee, and the liquor will evaporate.  :)

Anyway, I had the salesman point me to the coffee flavored liquors and the name "Kahlua" sounded familiar, so that is what I bought.  Not sure if a coffee flavored liquor and rum with coffee flavor are the same, but it is what it is. I bought the smallest bottle available (which looks like it will make 2 or 3 Tiramisu pies!  Take 1/3 cup of this and using a basting brush, brush this onto the lady fingers and Milano cookies.  I used a little over 1/2 of my third cup for the first layer, because I had to brush on the sides and the bottom. 


Then pour about 1/2 the filling mixture in the pan and layer with the rest of the lady fingers. Brush these with the Kahlua, too, then pour the rest of the filling on top.  I may have poured too fast, no idea. But for some reason my lady fingers tried to rise to the top.  I gently pushed them back down with my finger then placed my Tiramisu in the fridge for a few hours.  This could be made the day before, because it does need time to set up!  As you can see, I didn't quite allow mine to set long enough: we were anxious to dig in!

When finished, sprinkle some cocoa powder on top.  I would use some kind of stencil next time to make it prettier.  One recipe recommended chocolate curls as a garnish.  My chocolate 'grated' rather than curled as you can see.

Take a knife and cut around the pan to get the frosting from the side and take off the side.  The cake boss put a ribbon around his, and I would have done so if I'd had one -- it would hide the frosting line. 


I will probably make this again just to get the Kahlua used up! lol  I didn't taste it, I don't think.  If so, it was nicely blended into the rest of the ingredients so that there was no alcohol taste to this and really no coffee taste.  It was a pleasant flavor and easy enough to make that I won't hesitate to make this again.