Tiramisu

Duration:   45 min

Difficulty:  Medium

Origin: Veneto

Tiramisu is probably the most popular dessert on Italian tables today. Beloved by all, we appreciate its taste and softness on the palate. Much appreciated, but also disputed in its historical origins among various Italian regions. The one that lately seems to be more plausible (but not certain) is the Veneto, which wanted it as a dessert to strengthen itself during evenings spent in closed houses.

In reality, recipes for this dessert did not appear before the 1980s. Pellegrino Artusi’s book (late 1800s) does not report this recipe at all and therefore it would not seem known in those years.

However, regardless of its origins, today we can completely affirm that Tiramisu is a traditional dessert, and I certainly cannot deny that it has always been present on my table (in Tuscany) since I was a child. I therefore want to offer you the same recipe that was used at my house, and that I still use today to make this delicious dessert. Enjoy your meal!

Ingredients

Doses for 4 people:

• 400 g of Mascarpone
• 4 eggs
• 4 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 pack of ladyfingers (or pavesini)
• 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder
• Dark chocolate to taste
• 2 cups of coffee

How to Proceed

Break the eggs by separating the yolks from the whites into two different bowls. Attention: eggs must strictly be at room temperature. In the bowl where the egg yolks are, add the sugar. Beat the egg yolks hard until all the sugar has dissolved.

Then add the mascarpone to the mixture

And mix everything with a whisk until all the mascarpone has blended with the egg yolks and sugar.

Now take the other bowl, that is, the one with the egg whites. Beat with a whisk or a food processor until you get the egg whites whipped to stiff peaks.

Pour the whipped egg white into the first bowl.

Mix gently until all the egg white has blended into the mixture. If you did everything delicately, you should have obtained a very frothy cream.

Prepare fresh coffee and pour it into a plate. You will use this dish to moisten the ladyfingers or pavesini one by one. If you prefer, you can slightly dilute the coffee with water and sugar, or you can correct it with a liqueur of your choice.

Take a container on which you will serve the tiramisu. Wet every single pavesino in the coffee very quickly. Very little is needed, avoid them being too soaked. Arrange the individual pavesino on the bottom of the container, forming a flat layer.

Then pour a layer of frothy cream on top.

You can do the same thing if you use ladyfingers

Then start forming another layer of ladyfingers soaked in coffee. Then cover again with a further layer of frothy cream.

Fill the entire container gradually until you reach the edge. Once filled, dust the top surface evenly with cocoa powder, passed through a sieve.

Finally, take the dark chocolate and scrape it over the ground, so as to obtain chocolate “shavings”. These will guarantee a certain degree of crunchiness to an already tasty and soft dessert, stimulating the palate even more.

Another idea…
It is also possible to prepare single portions of tiramisu….