Tiramisu Crunch
As you know by now, I love to take classic dishes and give them a twist. And that includes deserts.
I was craving Tiramisu a few months ago. It’s such a classic and yet I wanted to see what I could do to make Tiramisu better. Tiramisu has a very soft texture as the ladyfinger cookies are soaked in coffee and booze. I thought, why not add a crunch element to it? Adding crushed up chocolate espresso beans keeps the flavors the same and yet adds more texture. I added Amaretto and crushed chocolate covered almonds to give another depth of flavor.
Tiramisu is really an easy dessert to make since it takes no baking and that makes it perfect for the hot summer when you don’t want to turn on the oven. Just make sure you plan out in advance as Tiramisu must be made at least one day before serving.
- 2 cups strong black coffee
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 tablespoon Kahlua
- 1 tablespoon amaretto
- ½ cup sugar
- 4 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup Marsala wine
- 2 8-ounce containers mascarpone cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 packages ladyfinger cookies
- 1 cup chocolate covered almonds
- ½ cup chocolate covered espresso bean
- cocoa powder for dusting
- white chocolate curls for garnish
- Start by mixing the coffee, rum, Kahlua and Amaretto together. Set aside.
- Next, in the bowl of a double boiler over simmering water, combine the sugar, egg yolks and wine. Using a hand held mixer, beat the mixture until it triples in volume. This should take 5-10 minutes. It will look like a runny pudding.
- Remove from the heat and beat in the mascarpone and cream cheese until fully combined. Place in the fridge until fully chilled.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the heavy cream. Beat until you have stiff peaks. Fold in the chilled mascarpone mixture.
- Dip each ladyfinger on both sides into the coffee mixture one at a time. Line a 13x9 pan (or smaller and you can just have more layers). Once you have lined the bottom of the pan spread out ½ of the mascarpone mixture, repeat. You should have a top layer of the mascarpone cheese mixture when done. Dust with cocoa powder.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the chocolate covered almonds and chocolate covered espresso beans. You want them to be fine and chunky. Sprinkle the ground up bits over the entire top of the Tiramisu.
- Finally, garnish by taking a chunk of white chocolate and using a vegetable peeler make curls of white chocolate on top of the chocolate bits.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. Let it sit over night before serving.
