Tiramisù ♡

When you come from Italy, one of the first desserts that you eat is a “tiramisù”.

Tiramisù literally means “pick me up”, “cheer me up”, or “lift me up”. It is a popular coffee-flavored dessert here in Italy. It’s made of lady’s fingers (savoiardi in italian) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of eggs, sugar, and mascarpone cheese, flavoured with cocoa.

Its origins are often disputed among Italian regions such as Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Piemonte, and even my own region, Trentino Alto-Adige.

The funny thing about this recipe is that I learned to make it while I was in America, not even in my own country.

Now, I’m going to teach you how to make it!

Here’s what you need:

• strong black italian coffee just enough
• 1/2 cup of rum
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 250/300g mascarpone cheese
• 1 or 2 large packets of lady’s fingers (savoiardi)
• cocoa, for dusting

Method

1. Separate the yolks of the egg and blend them together with the sugar. Put the egg whites in another bowl and beat until stiff.
2. Put the mascarpone cheese, the egg whites and the sugar with yolks in a large bowl all together. Whisk until everything is completely combined and have the consistency of thickly cream.
3. Get your serving pan ready. Put the coffee into a shallow dish and add a spoon of sugar and the rum. Dip in a few lady’s finger at a time, turning for a few secs until they are nicely soaked, but not soggy. Layer these into your pan until you have covered one layer in the pan, then spread over a layer of the creamy mixture. Then repeat the layers until you have finished the cream.
4. Cover and chill overnight in the fridge. To serve, dust with cocoa powder.

Enjoy your tiramisù!