I have been making this recipe for forever and decided I would finally write it down. At the core, it is based upon a traditional recipe from italiannotes.com which no longer exists, so I’ve adapted it from whatsgabycooking.com and sallysbakingaddiction.com.
There are a lot of ways you can get fancy with the recipe- when I first started making it, I would follow Sally’s page and doubleboil the yolks and sugar together. This is to avoid raw eggs- if you have a sensitive stomach, I would doubleboil the eggs. I don’t mind raw eggs, so I won’t spend the extra time to boil them.
I add a few different alcohols into the tiramisu for extra flavor, toasted shaved coconut for aroma and texture, and finely chopped dark chocolate on top for a bit of crunch. I vary the cookies I use depending on what’s available at the grocery store- no need for savoiardi if you cannot find it.
The most important ingredient in the tiramisu is the mascarpone. I use Trader Joe’s mascarpone as it is cheap and pretty good; I have used creme fraiche with some success as well. Homemade is great. If you have a bad mascarpone, you get a grainy texture or something really really watery. Galbani is good if you can find it.
Ingredients
- 1 cup brewed espresso (optional to add a bit of dark rum or kahlua), chilled
- I prefer my coffee to be very strong, so I use a Sumatran blend and then brew with Vietnamese coffee drippers. You can also use a Moka pot as long as you are careful not to burn the coffee. Sometimes I will do the Moka pot first and then double infuse the moka pot coffee with the Vietnamese coffee drippers. It’s crazy.
- 1/4 cup dutch process cocoa powder, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract (more of a splash than a tablespoon)
- 4 large eggs, chilled & pasteurized if not double boiled
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 16 ounces mascarpone cheese, chilled
- 1 can/1.75 cups of coconut cream, chilled. I use Trader Joe’s coconut cream for this.
- Two boxes of cookies or whatever is needed to fill your baking dish. Two packs of savoiardi is usually sufficient, or two boxes of Trader Joe’s chocolate dunkers. For gluten free, Tate’s or Siete is usually pretty good, or you can find gluten free fudge stripes. Aim for something simple and ideally absorbent.
- Coconut rumchata, to taste
- Unsweetened shredded coconut to top
- Dark chocolate, my preferred is the big Trader Joes almond dark chocolate bar, Fair Trade 55% cacao Coconut Milk chocolate, or something darker around 80%.
Instructions
- Set aside a large baking dish, 9 x 13, 7 x 11, or similar. Ceramic, glass, or stainless steel is preferred for presentation.
- Brew the coffee if you don’t have it already and put it in the fridge to chill.
- Crack your 4 eggs and separate the whites and the yolks. Whip the whites with 1/4 cup of sugar until you form stiff peaks reminiscent of meringue. Fold in your yolks and add the other 1/4 cup of sugar, then whip until smooth and airy.
- Add the sugar in slowly while whipping. Sugar stabilizes the foam. You don’t want to add the sugar too early or you won’t be able to get large air bubbles, and you don’t want to add it too late or the structure will start to fall apart. Add the sugar after the eggs have started to get foamy, but well before they have peaks on their own.
- Add the salt and mascarpone and continue to whip it until it is smooth.
- Add the chilled coconut cream (you may need to poke it with a knife to get it out of the can) and continue to whip until the mixture is light, creamy, and smooth and can hold a soft peak. Add the vanilla extract and a splash of coconut rumchata.
- Take your coffee out and mix it with a splash of dark rum and 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. Dip each cookie in the coffee mixture and then place them on the bottom of your baking dish, lining the bottom.
- Top the cookies with about 1/2 or 1/3 of your mascarpone mixture. If you have a deeper dish, you can do more layers. Use a silicon spatula or a spoon to spread it into an even layer, then dust the layer with cocoa powder.
- Dip more cookies in the coffee mixture and then place the on top of the previous layer. Add mascarpone and cocoa powder and repeat until you run out of space or mascarpone. You can also add in some shredded coconut if you want it in the layers, I prefer not to.
- For the final top layer, first dust with cocoa powder. Finely chop your chocolate and sprinkle it over the top of the dish. Lightly bake or air fry the shredded coconut, then add that on top.
- Make sure you do the cocoa powder first- it needs to soak into the mascarpone for flavor and so you don’t inhale it. Don’t overdo the cocoa powder as you WILL inhale it when you eat.
- Cover the dish in plastic wrap and let it chill in the fridge for a few hours before serving- two at the minimum but ideally at least six. The mascarpone will set and the cocoa powder will soak into the mascarpone. If you have very absorbent cookies, they may cease to exist and become a delicious layer of bread pudding.
Tips
Try not to overmix the mascarpone. If you do, it becomes grainy.
Don’t oversoak the ladyfingers or cookies- a quick 1-2 second dip is enough. If they are too soaked, the tiramisu becomes soggy. You should have plenty of coffee leftover, if you’ve only done two layers of cookies.
The tiramisu needs a few hours to infuse and taste best. 2 hours at minimum, at least 6 ideally, or overnight.
Make sure you put the cocoa powder on before the other toppings.. inhaling the cocoa powder is not fun.
It doesn’t freeze well- not that it would last that long anyway.
I usually end up with enough mascarpone to fill a couple mason jars, so I’ll make little tiramisu servings in those.
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