The husband has had a brilliant idea. Or what he thinks is a brilliant idea. He wants to film me cooking and put the videos on YouTube. He even bought a small camera and created a YouTube channel.
I tried to stop him. I told him I’m not that good of a cook. I told him that all the recipes I make, I find on the internet or in cookbooks. I told him I’m not really original and I always mess something up and that I’m not very photogenic.
No matter. He went ahead with his project anyway.
And today he decided that he would film me making tiramisu.
Wait. “What?” I said. “I don’t make tiramisu. I don’t know how to make tiramisu. YOU make the tiramisu in our house.”
“It’s easy,” said the husband. “I’ll tell you how to do it and then you’ll do it.”
“But I’m going to get fat. I wanted a nice peach for dessert tonight.”
“You’ll have tiramisu instead!”
I returned home from work, and there he was with all his ingredients. “It’s easy!” he said again.
And it is.
For tiramisu you need the following:
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3 eggs (or rather 3 egg yolks)
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¼ cup of sugar
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rhum, whiskey, or cognac
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strong coffee or espresso
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marscapone
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heavy cream
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lady fingers
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elbow grease
Prepare your coffee. Set aside.
Put your sugar into a large bowl. Separate your egg yolks from the whites. You only need the yolks, which you add to the sugar and whisk away (with a whisk) until it’s blended.
Add your marscapone. All of it. Whisk away again. Keep whisking until the marscapone is fully blended and smooth.
Here you add 1 shot of your liquor of choice. The husband and I used 30-year old cognac, because what else are you supposed to do with it when it’s been sitting around your house for 2 years?
Whisk whisk whisk.
Add 4 tablespoons of heavy cream. Whisk whisk whisk until all is smooth and homogeneous.
Pour your coffee into a bowl and prepare your lady fingers. Take a square or rectangular pan and quickly dipping the lady fingers one by one into the coffee, lay them side by side in the pan. Make sure they only get a quick dip, because if they soak they’ll fall apart and you’ll have nothing but mush.
Once you’ve filled the bottom of the pan, layer the cream mixture on top of it about ¼ inch thick.
Then do it all again.
When you’re done, add a bit of unsweetened coca powder on the top for decoration and because it’s tradition.
Stick it in the fridge for about 8 hours to let the cream firm up.
There you have it – traditional and easy tiramisu.
As a side note: the traditional liquor used in this dish is marsala, which is some type of Italian wine. We didn’t have any. But as the husband is part Italian, he’d be crushed if I didn’t metion it.
Also, I’m not linking to the video. I’m wearing a horrible dress, my makeup is running down my face because of the heat and unless you stick an oboe in front of me, I will never have any stage presence.
6 comments
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August 2, 2011 at 10:09 pm
Rebecca
Made my mouth water. Guess what I’ll be doing soon if I don’t get lazy! I’ll be giving my husband a copy of this recipe!!! :oD
August 3, 2011 at 5:32 pm
hollyeatsinfrance
Lol. Do it! It was much easier and quicker to make than I had expected. I guess if you make the lady fingers from scratch rather than buying them it would take much longer, but otherwise tiramisu is quite an easy dessert. 🙂
August 2, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Kristen
Sounds like fun-I actually had thought of doing that before. Kind of like being your own Food network star with out the food network. Post a link I would love to see it. 🙂
August 3, 2011 at 5:31 pm
hollyeatsinfrance
You should try it. I know you’re a better cook than I am, and you probably explain things better. I’m very bad at explaining how to do things on the spot, which is why my students are often very confused!
August 3, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Ei
The husband is right – you should be doing a youtube demo! And what do you mean “not photogenic”. You are gorgeous! Yes – I want to see that link too!
August 3, 2011 at 5:28 pm
hollyeatsinfrance
There will be no linking of the tiramisu video. However the husband is going to film me making something this weekend so we’ll see how that goes. I’ll also be making cookies at some point, which will be in French because they don’t know how to make chewy yummy American cookies.