My sweet husband’s birthday was this past weekend, and we celebrated him with a day on the trail.
He loaded the car with spikes and snacks and our son packed the back seat with toys for the long drive out to the mountain. His brother joined him in the car and his mother met him at the trailhead and they spent the day out under the gray sky. They made it halfway to the top, our lunch spot at the saddle (any farther would be too treacherous for 5-year-old feet), and he indulged our son yet again with his traditional piggyback gallop down the mountain.
They pulled up to our driveway late in the afternoon, tired and ready for a celebration. I had spent the day home sick and feeling guilty about it, so they came back to a very clean house and a tiramisu from scratch.
This dessert is not what I usually make for his birthday, but I wanted to make him something a little fancier for 35. This one has lots of steps and takes most of a day from start to finish (overnight is even better) but the result is a decadent, creamy and very 35-year-old dessert.
Tiramisu
Ingredients:
For the lady fingers
4 eggs, separated
2/3 cup sugar
7/8 cups all-purpose flour
For the cream
16 ounces mascarpone cheese
5 pasteurized egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
1 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
For the coffee soak
1 cup strong black coffee
¼ cup simple syrup
Cocoa powder for dusting
Directions:
Make the lady fingers first.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, prepare a piping bag with a large round tip, and line a baking tray with parchment or a silicone mat.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar (reserving 2 tablespoons for the whites) until the mixture is thick and the color has lightened. Set aside.
In your mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the 4 egg whites to soft peaks, add the 2 tablespoons sugar, and continue until the whites form stiff peaks, about 4 to 5 minutes.
Fold one half of the egg whites into the yolks.
Sift the flour over the mixture and fold to combine.
Fold in the remaining egg whites just until incorporated. Do not over mix or handle it too roughly or the egg whites will deflate.
Transfer to the piping bag and pipe down cookies about 3 inches long.
Bake immediately for 8 minutes, until the edges have just started browning.
Remove and rest on the counter to help the cookies dry out. It’s better to make the cookies a couple days in advance (stale cookies absorb the coffee better) but they’re so small that a few hours in a cool kitchen does the trick.
Next make the filling.
The egg yolks in a traditional tiramisu are not cooked, so be sure to use pasteurized eggs to make this dish and don’t serve to vulnerable diners.
In your mixer beat together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth.
Add the mascarpone cheese and continue mixing until completely incorporated.
Pour in the heavy cream and vanilla and mix until smooth.
Transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour to remove all the air bubbles.
Dust some cocoa powder on the bottom of a 9-by-13 baking dish. You can use almost any dish to assemble your dessert — this one was just convenient for me.
Combine the black coffee and simple syrup in a wide bowl.
Dip each cookie into the coffee soak before layering down half of them into the bottom of the dish.
Spread on half of the cream, dust with cocoa powder, then repeat with the second layer of lady fingers.
The top layer of cream can be spread or piped on depending on your presentation goals.
Cover and allow to chill for at least 4 hours, overnight is better.
Just before serving, dust the top with cocoa powder. Serve with a candle and a song.
