Day 21: A recipe

Jamie Oliver's Tiramisu Veloce recipe
(image from his cookbook)


I've altered this one from "Jamie's Italy." I'm crazy about that cookbook, and I love how Jamie describes methods...they just make sense to me. The differences between mine & the original: mine's a 1/2 recipe, and it serves 4 (he says the full recipe serves 4...I love Tiramisu, but come on!), I substitute a dash of vanilla extract for vanilla beans (criminal, I know, but it's cheaper and I always have it in the cabinet), and I use marsala wine if I don't have sherry or vino santo on hand. I have my version memorized ;)

Ingredients
• About 8 ladyfingers or trifle sponges (however many it takes to line the bottom of your dish)
• 1/2 cup good strong coffee, freshly brewed (or espresso, if you want to be more authentic)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• about 10 oz mascarpone (just alter the recipe for the size of tub you can find)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup vin santo or sweet sherry (or marsala wine)
• 1/4 bar of good dark chocolate (or use milk chocolate and eat the other 3/4 bar)
(I completely leave out the orange zest, 'cause I'm not into it...ewww)

Directions (edited to reflect my changes...)
Get yourself a medium deep bowl or dish about 8-10 inches in diameter and arrange your ladyfingers snugly in layers on top of each other. (Jamie sweetens the coffee with 1/2 the sugar, but I don't because the trifle sponges are covered in sugar...but ladyfingers aren't very sweet, so add sugar if you're using them). Pour the coffee over the ladyfingers, making sure the top layer is completely covered -you'll see the coffee being sucked up by the ladyfinger. While that's soaking, put your mascarpone into a bowl and whisk it up with the rest of the sugar.

Continue whisking and as you do so, drizzle in the vin santo/sherry/marsala and vanilla extract. You want to get the mixture to a loose, shiny consistency.
Smear the mascarpone over the ladyfingers and either grate all the chocolate over it or make shavings using a knife or a peeler. Keep in the fridge until you're ready to serve.