My First Attempt at Tiramisu Successful, Sort Of

I have been wanting to make Tiramisu for months now but coud not find the essential ingredient, Mascarpone cheese.

Well I was in Albertson's Friday and by sheer luck I found Mascarpone cheese. If you are looking for it, you will find it in the Deli section. I still could not find the Italian ladyfingers that most Tiramisu recipes call for. My neighbor who is a very good cook said use vanilla wafers instead, so that is what I used.

The recipe I used was on the side of the cheese carton. It was very easy to follow although I did have to make a few adjustments.

Tiramisu Recipe:

3 large eggs or pasturized egg substitute

1 cup expresso or strong coffee, cooled

1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp. cognac or brandy (I substituted Vanilla extract)

8 oz of Bel Gioioso Mascarpone (the brand I found)

2 tbsp cocoa

10 ladyfingers (I substituted vanilla wafers)

1) combine 3 egg yolks, 1 tbsp. expresso (coffee), sugar and cognac (vanilla extract) in a large bowl. Beat 2-3 minutes. Add Mascarpone and beat 3-5 minutes until smooth.

2) In another bowl, combine 3 egg whites and a pinch of sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form and gently fold into the Mascarpone mixture.

3) Dip ladyfingers (wafers) into the coffee and line the bottom of a small serving dish. Spread Mascarpone mixture and sprinkle with cocoa. Refrigerate for at least three hours.

I must say for my first time making this dessert, I think it tastes great but I did make a few mistakes. Next time I will make sure I beat the egg whites a lot longer. I ended up putting the dish in the freezer because it was a little runny. That worked great. I also will use a smaller serving dish in the future so that the wafers can get completely covered and don't float to the top. The other thing I will do next time is get a cup of expresso. The strong coffee was fine but I think expesso will give the dish a bigger flavor kick.  On the plus side, I think using the vanilla wafers was awesome, they soak up the flavors so well.

For me the true test of a recipe is will I make it again. The answer is you betcha. Oh by the way the family liked it too.