Tiramisù

Tiramisu is one of those classic desserts that you can find in pretty much any Italian restaurant. It's delicious, it's decadent, and it's definitely not for people who are trying to lose a lot of weight...but it's absolutely wonderful and even if it tastes like it's very hard to make, it's actually not that difficult. I made some recently, and even if we had a piece each pretty much every night, Jacquie asked me to make more as soon as we ran out. So, I made some more tonight. As a matter of fact, I'm having some right now. Jealous? Well, go make your own!

Tiramisù

30 ladyfinger cookies
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar, divided
1/3 cup sweet Marsala wine
1 tbsp water
12 oz mascarpone
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup espresso or strong black coffee, cooled
2 tbsp rum
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate

Turn the oven to 350 degrees F. Arrange all the ladyfingers on a cookie sheet. Once the oven is hot enough, bake the ladyfingers for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. In the meantime, beat the egg yolks and 1/3 cup of sugar in a heatproof bowl with an electric mixer until very pale and creamy. Add the Marsala wine and water, then set the bowl in a skillet over about 1 inch of barely simmering water and beat constantly until roughly doubled in volume and the temperature reaches 160 degrees F.

Whip the (softened) mascarpone together with the cream and vanilla until soft peaks form. Let the egg/sugar mixture cool completely, then fold it in with the mascarpone mixture. Mix together the coffee, the rum and the other 1/3 cup of sugar. Dip half the ladyfingers, one by one, in the coffee mixture and place in a single layer in the bottom of a dish (large enough to hold two layers of ladyfingers plus the filling). Spread half the mascarpone mixture on top of the ladyfingers. Next, add the semi-sweet chocolate. You can either grate it finely or just put it in a blender or food processor and run it on high for about 5-7 seconds. Sprinkle about half the chocolate on top of the mascarpone mixture. Repeat with the second layer of ladyfingers, mascarpone mixture and chocolate.

Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour before consuming (it gets better after 2 hours, and I recommend eating within 4 hours for the best results). Will keep for at least three days in the fridge, covered, but if you manage to keep it for that long, you're a better man than I.