Tiramisu.
Tear-ah-mee-sue. Tier-i-mih-soo. Teramesoo.
I give up. I can't pronounce this italian dessert for the life of me but I can put it in my mouth and that's all that matters.

Sweet baby Jesus. This is delicious. It might be my favorite thing to eat this month.

While I've never been to Italy myself the great thing about New York is there are amazing Italian restaurants and markets just around the corner. One of my favorite local Park Slope spots is Russo's Italian market. It's filled to the brim with all sorts or italian olive oils, pastas, homemade raviolis, cheeses, sodas, olives, and more. The hardest part of coming home after a long day of work is not buying an obscene amount of fresh carbs from Russo's. Sometimes I give in.

For whatever reason, I could not get Tiramisu off my mind this month so I finally decided to give in and try making it myself. There are so many theories on how to make this Italian dessert the "classic" way, but from what I gathered, truly authentic recipes did not contain whipped cream but some conglomerate of marscarpone and eggs and, of course, Italian made ladyfingers.

Honestly? On their own ladyfinger biscuits are kind of gross. They're plain, dry, and crunchy. But dipped in coffee and liqueur and covered in a sweet, creamy marscarpone they transform into a magical dessert. I mean, you can't go wrong with chocolate, coffee, and sugar.

The next time you are thinking of taking a trip to Italy, create a mini-vacation in your kitchen. Ciao bella!

Traditional Tiramisu

two sleeves of lady fingers
17 oz marscarpone cheese
3 eggs, organic
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee
1/2 cup dark chocolate liquer (or kaluha)
1 cup sugar
bittersweet cocoa, high quality

Separate eggs into whites and yolks into two medium sized bowls. Whip the yolks and granulated sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the marscarpone and beat until combined.

With very clean beaters whish eggs whites into a meringue. This is best done in a bowl cleaned with vinegar or lemon juice to prevent grease from letting your whites rise into a meringue. Fold the stiff whites into your marscarpone mixture. Add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor. Use mixture to build your tiramisu right away or store covered in the refrigerator.

Pour fresh hot coffee and liquer into a wide bowl or container. This is for dipping your ladyfingers. haha. That is a funny sentence. Quickly dip one side of the lady finger into the coffee liquid and place into your prepared springform pan. I used a 9 inch pan. Repeat with more ladyfinger biscuits until you have a tightly packed bottom layer. Cover the ladyfinger layer with half of your marscapone mixture. Sift one two tablespoons cocoa powder over the top. Create another dipped ladyfinger layer and cover with the rest of the marscarpone. Sift two more tablespoons of cocoa powder over the top. Cover and refrigerate four hours or overnight before serving. In all honesty, this tastes better the day after preparing. Sift more cocoa powder over the top before serving. Delizioso!