Strawberry Tiramisu
Last week I did something that cooks are cautioned never to do. I tried out a new recipe for a potluck dinner. I can usually read through a recipe and know that it will taste good.
I’ve only had a few failures through the years. One of them was a green tomato pie that was supposed to have the texture and flavor of an apple pie. I concluded green tomatoes are meant to be fried and should not be used as a pie filling.
This year, my small plot of strawberries has been producing significant amounts of large sour berries. One can consume only so many jars of strawberry jam in a year, so I thought I would share the bounty with my friends at the dinner, but I needed a recipe that would counter the tartness of the berries.
I thought about creating an original Strawberry Tiramisu. I had several packets of ladyfingers in my freezer. To my delight, there were recipes online, and I didn’t have to go to the trouble of creating my own.
Traditional tiramisu is a pudding-like dessert made of ladyfingers or sponge cake dipped in coffee or liqueur. Mascarpone cheese is often used in the filling. Today, there are many adaptations.
While on a business trip with my husband, I sampled limoncello tiramisu at Meloni’s Restaurant in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. The restaurant is an Italian landmark, dating to 1950.
It is highly unlikely that any type of tiramisu would have been served at Meloni’s in the early years since tiramisu didn’t become popular in the United States until the 1980s.
The dessert’s origin is questionable, with assumptions that it was invented between the early 18th century and mid 20th century. Most think tiramisu’s origins are relatively recent, dating to the early 1970s in the Italian town of Treviso. The first written reference doesn’t appear until 1983.
Perhaps the most difficult thing about making tiramisu at home is finding the ladyfingers in a local market. Guests at the potluck dinner gave Strawberry Tiramisu thumbs up and left nothing to bring home.
Since the strawberries are still producing, I made a second pan of this heavenly dessert that I don’t have to share with anyone but my husband.
Strawberry Tiramisu
• 1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 (8-ounce) container mascarpone*
• ½ cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons strawberry preserves, melted
• 1 (24-count) package ladyfingers
• ¼ cup orange juice
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream*
• 2 teaspoons strawberry extract
• Cocoa for topping
• Place sliced strawberries in a large bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice. Gently stir and set aside.
• Whip cream until peaks form. Set aside.
• Combine mascarpone, powdered sugar and melted preserves in a mixing bowl. Beat until blended and smooth. Stir in half of the whipped cream. Set aside.
• Place ladyfingers in a pan and drizzle with orange juice.
• Whisk the rest of the whipped cream with the strawberry extract. Set aside.
To assemble: Spread half of the cheese filling in the bottom of an 8-inch-x8-inch baking dish. Layer half of the ladyfingers on top. Add half of the sliced strawberries. Pour some of the juice over the ladyfingers. Spread half of the strawberry-flavored whipped cream over the berries.
Repeat these steps again.
Cover and refrigerate overnight or for at least 6 hours.
Dust with cocoa powder. Slice and serve with additional strawberries, if desired.
* NOTE: I substituted an 8-ounce package of cream cheese for mascarpone and a 16-ounce container of Cool Whip, when I made the recipe the second time.