Antonella's Tiramisu (Pick Me Up) [1]
1 box Lady's finger [2]
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup espresso coffee
8 oz mascarpone (soft Italian cheese) [3]
1/2 teasp salt
some cocoa
some brandy
Step 1: Prepare mixture by combining 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tsp of brandy into a large mixing bowl. Beat for 2-3 minutes. Add mascarpone and continue to beat for another 3-4 minutes [4a] until consistency. Set aside.
Step 2: Combine 3 egg whites and 1/2 teasp of salt [5] and beat [4b] until mixture becomes a thick froth. Gently fold mascarpone mixture and egg white mixture together.
Step 3: Pour in a soup plate a cup of coffee, 1 teasp of brandy, 1 teasp of sugar and beat just a little. Gently roll a lady's finger in coffee mixture [6] and make a layer at the bottom of serving dish [7]. Then add a layer of mascarpone mixture. Continue with another layer of lady's fingers and mascarpone mixture. Finally sprinkle with cocoa [8].
Refringerate at least for a hour [9] before serving.
噙香加注:
[1] Antonella was the beautiful Italian lady who taught me to make Tiramisu. She was learning English when she wrote this recipe. I kept most of her original writing. Notes here are to fill in some details and to share learnings from my own experiences.
[2] There are many varieties of lady's finger. In southern California, I found them in Italian food store as well as in Asian supermarket. Try different kinds and you will find which one you like. I liked those slim ones at 顺发 since it's easy to line them up in containers of different shapes and to keep the surface of the cake smooth. In northen California, I like the Trader Joe's brand. Perfect for rolling in coffee but not slim enough. Those soft cake-like lady's finger at Safeway is really second choice. They do not seem to be meant to be rolled in coffee. When you cannot find any lady's finger but still would like to try, sponge cake would do:-).
[3] There are also a variety of Mascapone cheese. Almost all of them are good. I usually use the plain one. You could find the brown one specifically for Tiramisu. which may have already contained eggs etc.
[4] Use a mixer. I beat egg white first and beat cheese mixture afterwards.
[5] Only a little salt is enough. One friend made a salty Tiramisu.
[6] One friend thought this was coffee powder. What you need to do is to brew coffee while you do steps 1 & 2. One cup usually is not quite enough. If you have a small coffee brewer, prepare to make coffee twice.
[7] For one box of lady's finger, the serving dish should be about the same as a 3"x3" aluminum plate. Prepare more lady's fingers for your first try.
[8] Better do that right before serving.
[9] The idea is to keep it not too soft nor too hard. Typically I put it in freezer first for a few hours and then move it to
refrigerator or outside depending on how soon you need to serve.
