Tiramisù

Now we've got the biscuits, we still need a recipe for the actual tiramisu. So here it is! I can't say this is the traditional recipe, but its the most delicious tiramisu recipe of them all, so no complaining!

Making tiramisu comes in 3 steps: making the coffee, making the mascarpone and assembling. I know I say this with almost every recipe I post: but this is easy. It's a whole lot easier and faster than some other recipes of tiramisu I've come across. Because unlike most recipes, this one doesn't require any raw eggs and skills on how to pasteurize and beat them until fluffy. This one just requires an appetite.

Tiramisù
Fills a 20x20cm pan with 4 layers - adapted from 'Basic Italian'

400 ml (strong) coffee 
2 tablespoons Amaretto or other Italian liquor
500 grams mascarpone
1 lemon 
50 ml milk
80 grams sugar
1-2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
Savoiardi (ladyfingers) *
cacao powder

1. Start by making the coffee and let it cool down on the counter. Once it has cooled down, add the liquor
2. While the coffee is cooling, zest the lemon. Add the zest and one tablespoon lemon juice to the mascarpone in a bowl. Add the milk and sugars to the bowl as well and beat until evenly mixed. Cover and store in the fridge until you need it.
3. Find an oven dish to assemble the tiramisu in. Dip a savoiardi in the coffee for a few seconds until it has soaked up some of the coffee. Place it in the oven dish. Continue this step, biscuit by biscuit, until you have covered the bottom. Tougher, or store-bought, biscuits might need a longer soaking time.
4. Once the bottom of the oven dish is filled with savoiardi, take the mascarpone out of the fridge and evenly spread half of it onto the biscuits.
5. Then its time for the next layer of savoiardi: soak them one by one and line them up on top of the mascarpone. And finally finish with the last layer of mascarpone.
6. Place in the fridge before serving. For the best results leave everything to soak in the fridge for at least 6 hours before serving.
7. Right before cutting and serving the tiramisu, top with cocoa powder.

* The amount will depend on the size of your savoiardi, how many layers you want and millions of other things I could come up with, but around 200 grams of the store-bought size would be enough or twice this recipe of savoiardi.

Since I'm always very curious to the origins of recipe I tried to find the original tiramisu recipe. Appearantly no one has any clue at all. A lot of recipes I found with 'traditional' or 'classic' in them, appear to be American variations. I've read so much stuff on tiramisu now that I could share but can't confirm any of the sites credibility. So I can't tell you what is true about the history of tiramisu, but what I can say is that no one really knows. Everyone talks about legends and theories but one website said this: "It is best to try all tiramisu!!!" With three exclamation marks you know this has to be true.

Variations

Chocolate: Add shaved chocolate onto each layer for an even more chocolaty flavour!
Non-alcoholic: You can opt for omitting the alcohol from the recipe. A flavouring in the coffee such as almond or vanilla will give the tiramisu an extra dimension to compensate!
Extra alcohol:  Add an extra spoon or two of liquor to the mascarpone.
Without coffee: Okay, we're cheating now, but if you want your kids to enjoy this as well without giving them the proper 'pick-me-up' or if you just don't like coffee: try chocolate milk.
Extra coffee: Just to compensate for what I said above: use a strong espresso rather than a normal coffee. This would be the proper way to make tiramisu! You can also go for a flavoured coffee or even add a few spoons to the mascarpone!

After I realized 'Tiramisu' means 'pick-me-up' in Italian I've been singing 'Pick me up before you go go' everryyy time I thought of this recipe. It took me a few days and cheating on Google to figure out the actual lyrics are 'Wake me up before you go go'. This didn't make my own version go away at all...