Last week and this week, L had her long appointments on Monday and Thursday. I walked on the indoor track at the Gym that I joined for 2 miles, and swam 1/2-mile one day, and walked and used the rowing machine the other day. It's a pretty good way to waste time while L is busy and before I take her home.
Today I wanted to make a recipe in Cooks Illustrated for Lemon Tiramisu. Tiramisu is one of our favorite special desserts - I don't make it too often because it's a lot of work. I don't actually remember where I found this recipe, possibly from a magazine many years ago, but I've tweaked it a bit over the years. One of the biggest changes is using Milano cookies instead of lady fingers, since those aren't easy to find around here.
T's Tiramisu
- For the custard, beat 6 egg yolks in a bowl until thick, then beat over a double boiler, gradually adding 1/4 c sugar and 1/4 c Amaretto. Continue to cook and stir for about 6 minutes until thick. Remove from heat and continue beating until cool.
- Beat 1 1/2 c Mascarpone until smooth. In a separate bowl, whip 1 c heavy cream until it forms stiff peaks, then fold into Mascarpone. Fold this mixture into the custard.
- Mix 1 c strong coffee, cooled, with 3 T Kahlua in a small bowl. Dunk Chocolate Milanos in this mixture and then make a layer of these on the bottom of an 8" square baking dish. Spoon half of custard mixture over cookies, then repeat with a layer of dunked cookies and the remaining custard mixture. (You will need most of 2 bags of Milanos for this recipe.) Dust with cocoa or chocolate curls.
- Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving, but 4-6 hours is even better.
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The Lemon Tiramisu uses lemon curd in place of the custard. I couldn't find any Lemon Milanos, so I used White Chocolate Coconut ones, and they are dunked in a mixture of Limoncello and lemon juice. I'll let you know how it tastes!
I made a double recipe of my favorite lemon curd recipe for this, which needed 12 egg yolks altogether, along with the zest and juice from 6 lemons.
There happened to be a recipe in the most recent Cooks Illustrated for lemon syrup, which is made from the peels of those zested and juiced lemons, cut up and macerated in sugar for 24 hours. It is currently percolating on the kitchen counter. Supposedly it is excellent when stirred into iced tea or cocktails.
And of course, I used 10 of those 12 egg whites to bake an Angel Food Cake, that will go in the freezer for later.
I'm pretty proud of myself for not wasting much in my cooking adventures today. We have a pint of lemon curd in the fridge, should have a pint of lemon syrup tomorrow, one Angel Food Cake for later, and that Lemon Tiramisu to try tomorrow as well.
I also have 4 egg whites to use (2 from today and 2 from earlier in the week.) Any ideas?
