In the kitchen: Homemade Tiramisu

One of my favorite desserts to please a crowd. Make sure you're able to keep it refrigerated until it's ready to be eaten. This isn't a cooked dessert and is more about assembly than anything so be prepared to dirty some dishes! Step 1. Brew a pot of coffee or make expresso if you desire. I don't drink either so I used gasp! Folgers Strong Instant Coffee. I boiled 2 cups of water on the stove top and added 3 Tbsp of instant coffee and 2 Tbsp sugar until dissolved, set in a bowl to cool.

Step 2. Over a pot of barely simmering water place a metal bowl with 3 egg yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar and beat using an electric mixer. Warning this is a very messy process and you should have an apron on. Beat for 5-8 minutes or until mixture triples in size and immediately remove from heat. Fold in 16 oz of marscapone cheese when mixture has cooled slightly. Be careful to fold not stir. *Feel free to stir in 2 Tbsp of coffee flavored liqueur in the marscapone cheese before folding in the egg mixture if you desire a strong coffee flavor, I don't really like coffee so I omitted it.

Step 3. In a seperate bowl using clean beaters, beat 1 small container of heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

Step 4. Gently fold the whipped cream into the marscapone and egg mixture to cream the tiramasu filling.

Step 5. I couldn't find traditional Italian lady fingers in my tiny town so I used Stella Dora Breakfast Cookies (which I had to break to fit into my oval container). I've heard you can also use Nilla Wafers. I used 1 package of Stella Dora and dipped each into the coffee and layered my dish, top with filling, another layer of coffee soaked cookies, and another layer of filling.

The finished product.

Step 7. Top with cocoa powder or chocolate shavings. The fan from my oven was on when I started sifting cocoa and thats why mine seamed to blow everywhere. Oh well, it was delicious!

Cover your serving dish and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours before serving.