I woke up the other morning, worked out, then made the 25-minute walk to school
to sit through 1.5 hours of Professional Responsibility. (To be fair, I really enjoy this class.) Then I made the 25-minute walk back to my
house and drove to legal aid. I worked
at legal aid for several hours and drove back home to park my car so I could,
once again, make the 25-minute walk to school.
(I tried to ride my bike, but I have a flat. Great.)
I endured almost 2 hours of Written Advocacy. (I’m just going to leave the wording like that.) And finally made the 25-minute walk home. I was so tired.
But I needed to make tiramisu as promised.
I agreed to make
tiramisu for a meeting about a reproductive rights group called "If, When,
How."
If, When, How is a group that's "lawyering for reproductive justice." We are starting a student chapter at Brandeis.
This is the good stuff. Feminism has become stagnant and we need to remember that we are not finished. We are not yet equal.
Anyhow, I love both the ladies that were going to the dinner and the cause so I needed to make tiramisu.
Motivate.
I thought about taking a short cut and buying ladyfingers from a local bakery, but I couldn’t justify it. I not only live on a student’s budget, I write a baking blog.
Truth. Ladyfingers scared me. I mean . . . I’m not scared they’re going to
jump out from around the corner and scream “Boo!,” but their light fluffiness is incredibly
intimidating when completely exhausted.
Time
to tackle my fear.
Guess what?! They’re
not terrifying!
Ladyfingers
Borrowed from
Joy of Baking (Always a solid go to for new recipe building.)
5 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated white sugar; divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (This has to be the real
thing. If you have imitation vanilla, please
throw it out.)
1 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Separate the eggs while they are still cold and cover the
whites and yolks with plastic wrap to prevent a film from forming on the egg
yolks and to keep the whites from drying out.
Let the yolks and whites reach room temperature before using (about 30
minutes).
Preheat the oven to 400 and line two baking sheets with parchment
paper. Have ready a large pastry bag
fitted with a ½ in. plain round tip. (Or
put it in a Ziplock bag and cut off a corner . . .but this is the lazy
method.) At this point, the original
recipe draws lines on the parchment paper to help outline where you will
eventually pipe the batter for the ladyfingers.
I didn’t do this. I am making
tiramisu. No one will see the
ladyfingers. But you should check it out
if you care about the shape of your ladyfingers. You should also not use my lazy lazy batter
in a Ziplock method!
Ok. Enough of the
prep.
Now, in your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle
attachment (if you have one and your very favorite mixer that you’ve never been
able to use isn’t dead), beat the egg yolks and 1/3 cup white sugar on high
speed until the mixture becomes thick and pale yellow. (When you raise the beaters, the batter
should fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon.) (This will take between 5-10 minutes.) Beat in the vanilla extract. Sift the cake flour and salt over the batter,
but do not fold in.
In a clean bowl, with the whisk attachment (if you have one
and your very favorite mixer that you’ve never been able to use isn’t dead),
whip the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until soft peaks
form.
Gradually add the remaining 1/3 cup white sugar and whip until stiff peaks form and the whites are glossy. Fold the whites into the egg yolk and flour mixture in three additions, mixing only until incorporated.
Transfer the batter to your pastry bag (… or… Ziplock bag... don't do this, but it's what I did)
and, holding the bag at about a 45 degree angle to the baking sheet, pipe the
batter into 3 in long ladyfingers with about 1 inch in between.
Note: Using an actual pasty bag will make your ladyfingers prettier than mine. ;o)
When you have piped all the cookies, place the powdered
sugar in a fine strainer, and lightly sift the sugar over the tops of the cookies. Bake for about 8 minutes or until the
ladyfingers are firm but barely brown and are still soft and spongy when
lightly pressed.
Remove the baking sheets from the oven and immediately slide
the parchment paper (with the ladyfingers - if that wasn’t implied) from the
baking sheet onto a wire baking rack.
Let the ladyfingers cool for a minute and then remove the lady fingers
from the parchment paper using a flat spatula or knife. Please note:
remove the ladyfingers while they are still warm or they will likely
stick to the parchment paper. Let them
cool. These ladyfingers are meant to be
used the day they are baked. If you must
keep them longer, freeze them. (To
freeze, place in a plastic bag between layers of wax or parchment paper and
freeze up to one month.)
This makes about 40 3-in. ladyfingers.
(This is just barely enough ladyfingers to make the tiramisu
in the recipe that follows.)
Tiramisu
7 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup sweet marsala wine, plus 2 TBSP.
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 cup brewed espresso (or super strong coffee) (But NEVER
EVER instant espresso. Gross.)
1 ounce dark chocolate
1/4 cup spiced rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
48 ladyfingers
Put a glass bowl in the fridge. (Easy step!)
Cream together egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl set
over a pot of simmering water. Add 1/3
cup of the marsala wine and continue to whisk until mixture is thick and
doubled in volume. This is basically a
zabaglione. Remove from heat. Stir in the mascarpone until completely blended.
In the chilled bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft
peaks. Fold the whipped cream into the
mascarpone mixture to lighten.
In a small saucepan, combine the espresso (or super dark and
over powering coffee), chocolate, rum, vanilla, and remaining 2 tablespoons of
marsala wine. Heat gently and stir to
dissolve the chocolate. Once dissolved,
chill the mixture to cool it down (about 15 minutes). Once cooled, quickly dip each ladyfinger in
the chilled coffee mixture and arrange in a single layer on a 9 x 13 glass
baking pan (or you can use a disposable aluminum pan because you have every
intention of dropping off the tiramisu at a dinner party and not allowing a
drop of it back into your house. Really… use whatever you want. Be a rebel!)
DO NOT SOAK THE COOKIES. This
tiramisu leans more towards a traditional tiramisu and is wet enough on its
own. Soaking the cookies would turn it
into tiramisu soup – which sounds amazing, but is not the goal!
Spread 1/2 of the mascarpone cream evenly with a spatula
over the layer of the dipped ladyfingers.
Repeat with a second layer of dipped ladyfingers and remaining
mascarpone cream.
Whip the rest of the heavy cream to soft peaks and spread
over the entire pan. Then sprinkle the
top with cocoa powder. You can be creative here...
I put a stencil of a lotus blossom on my tiramisu. A lotus flower grows from muddy water and becomes one of the most beautiful flowers on earth. Its petals open one by one and fall off. The next day, the lotus grows again. To me, this flower is a symbol of life, beauty, and resilience. Anyhow, it seemed fitting for the cause and beautiful! So I cut a stencil and placed it on my tiramisu before I "sprinkled the cocoa."
Sprinkle..... So this recipe taught me a few things:
1. I'm tired.
2. My sifter is the worst sifter in the world and I really need a new one.
3. I am now looking for a new sifter and all suggestions are welcome! (Or gifts.... gifts are welcome too!)
Ahahaha... Whatever. It tasted amazing!
