tiramisu. the word itself feels fancy and delectable, maybe because it requires a pronunciation guide. [in a pinch, you can also just call it “tie my shoes” like nanny, my one-of-a-kind grandma, used to].
tiramisu is sort of like dessert lasagna - instead of sauce, a creamy, custardy filling made with mascarpone cheese and egg yolks, and instead of pasta, lady fingers [weird name, i know] soaked in coffee.
[tangent alert: apparently lady fingers are called this because they look like the delicate fingers of …get this… a lady. i can’t say i agree with the name, which originated in the 15th century by the way, but the sponge cake/biscuit combo of this creation makes for a great coffee-soaking vehicle. the italian name, savoiardi, feels much more fun to say, and i will likely try to bring that into conversations instead of lady fingers from this point forward…
unless, of course, i come up with my own name for them, naturally, i have…and it is sponge a la tongue depressor. savoiardi look way more like tongue depressors than anyone’s fingers.]
anyway. tangent over.
instead of cooking in the oven, the tiramisu is refrigerated for 8 hours or as much time as you have. the more time you have, the more married the flavors can be. and like lasagna, it’s also italian, so really on brand all around.
like i said on this post, i feel like tiramisu is not a middle-of-the-road dessert for most people - you either like it or you don’t. i don’t know about you, but i land in the former category. creamy custard with coffee soaked cookies and sprinkling of cocoa to finish it off - delicious!
i made this recipe from live well, bake often, and i would totally make again. if you have somewhere to take a dessert or are having some people over, impress them with relatively low effort and try out some tiramisu…they’ll be saying “that’s amore,” and so will you. : )
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