Easy Authentic Italian Tiramasu

I currently live in Italy and this recipe for Tiramisu has become my new “go to” recipe for making a dessert for company. It is prepared the day in advance, it’s easy and always a hit! Whenever we have guests arriving from the US we always make this dessert and it woos them everytime, but even my Italian friends love my recipe and rave about how authentic it is, high praise indeed!

This recipe is so much more simple than you would have imagined. The list of ingredients are simple and the technique is simple, in fact there is no cooking necessary so it is a perfect dessert if you don’t want to heat up your kitchen on a hot summer day! The only difficult part is finding Savoiardi cookies (ladyfingers, if you don’t live in Italy) and marscapone cheese. This recipe MUST be made a day ahead because the cookies must soak up the liquids and this takes over night. When you serve it, it will be soft and delicious!

Also, you will have to get over your fear of eating raw eggs or forget about making Tiramisu. The best solution is to buy your eggs from a good and trusted source. Try Kaml Farms in Modesto! Cristina knows her chickens personally so the eggs are Tiramisu friendly!

Easy Authentic Italian Tiramasu

Approx 20 (or 1/2 pound) Savoiardi cookies or Lady’s Fingers (a light hard cookie specific for Tiramisu, 2 packages are 1/2 pound, 4 individual packages come in a pound package)

3/4 cup strongly brewed espresso

1/2 sugar plus 2 Tablespoons sugar

1 (8 ounce package) Marscapone cheese

3 eggs

1/3 cup rum (silver or aged)

Directions:

Make espresso to equal 3/4 cup, add 2 Tablespoons sugar and rum. 

Separate egg yolks from egg whites. Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Beat egg yolk with 1/2 cup sugar until pale in color, about 3 minutes.

Add Marscapone and continue to beat until smooth and incorporated.

Fold the egg mixtures together, it doesn’t have to be smooth or perfect.

Dip each Savoiardi cookie into espresso mixture, quickly on each side. Don’t allow the cookie to sit in the espresso mixture, especially if the espresso is hot. Otherwise you will not be able to pick it up again, it will fall apart. Quickly dip the cookie on one side then the other and line the bottom of a rectangular pan with the cookies.

The cookies don’t need to go in the same direction, just make a flat layer.

Spoon half of the egg mixture over the cookie layer and repeat with another layer of dipped cookies.There should be two layers of dipped cookies and two layers of Marscapone mixture, finishing with Marscapone mixture,

Dust with cocoa powder before serving. 

Note: My pan is smaller than a typical 9×13, I’m not sure of its dimensions because it’s an Italian dish! But if your pan is 9×13 you may need to double the recipe or use an 8×10 dish.

Try these other great recipes from our Archives:

Buttery Flaky Pie Crust

Cherry Pie (published May 20, 2017)

Homemade Berry Pie (published July 23, 2017)

Whole Wheat Waffles (published August 12, 2017)

Almond Roca (published February 22, 2018)

Homemade Banana Cream Pie (published May 10, 2018)

Cannoli (published August 3, 2017)

Easy Authentic Tiramasu (published May 3, 2018)

Ooey Gooey Blonde Brownies (published August 11, 2018)

Old Fashioned Peach Crisp (published August 1, 2018

Classic Canned Peaches (published August 8, 2018)

Dutch Babies (published May 30, 2018)