Friday has always been my favorite day of the week. There is nothing quite like the feeling of the weekend being fully ahead of you. I don’t even mind the work part that day! I actually don’t usually cook on Fridays. It is either date night (pre-Covid) or takeout (post-Covid.) Fridays ALWAYS include dessert, though, so my Friday posts – which may or may not happen every week – will most likely be something sweet!
It’s probably no surprise that someone who has a blog called Mangia Monday would say that the “desert island” cuisine she would eat for the rest of her life would be Italian. If pressed, I would narrow it down to pizza – Neapolitan style. So many flavor possibilities there and I never get sick of bread and cheese! A dessert lover like me of course has a desert island dessert as well. It is probably a tie between ice cream and tiramisu, but since keeping ice cream from melting might be an issue on an island, we will go with tiramisu today. 😉
Much like with the vodka sauce I posted on Monday, the origins of tiramisu are a bit unclear, but it seems to have definitely originated in Italy. This light and airy creation made with ladyfingers (savoiardi) dipped in coffee (sometimes with little liquor), and layered with a mixture of whipped eggs, sugar and mascarpone cheese and topped with cocoa powder became popular in the US in the 1980’s. It is on pretty much on every Italian restaurant menu that I have ever seen, in some form or another. (Nutella Tiramisu, anyone? Yum!) I love that the meaning of the word tiramsu roughly translates to “pick me up”, because it truly does always make me happy, and the coffee probably contributes to the meaning as well! I do feel I need to acknowledge that tiramisu can be a polarizing dessert. I know almost as many people who despise tiramisu as who enjoy it, which is fine because it means there is more for me!
I have a long love for tiramisu. I can actually still see and taste the one we had more than 23 years ago in New York City at a cozy restaurant on on Park Avenue called Trattoria I Pagliacci the night we got engaged, and to this day, I compare all versions I eat to it. That restaurant closed years ago, but my quest for an even more perfect tiramisu continues. (For my Hong Kong friends – the tiramisu at Gaia, Motorino, Amalfitana, Pici and Grappa’s are my local favorites!)
One thing I didn’t know about tiramisu until a few years after I started eating it, was that it had raw eggs. I ate it throughout my pregnancy with Ryan back in 2000 when I was 25. Oops! Fortunately, he seems fine and is a healthy 20 year old who needs to order his own tiramisu every time we go out because he loves it so much.
Full disclosure that this is NOT a traditional tiramisu. I know that! It is not intended to be. But if you are pregnant, or just don’t like dealing with raw eggs at home like me and Lily from My Little Sweet Baker, this tiramisu-style dessert could be worth a try. Even better, it is make ahead and requires absolutely no cooking!
Lily’s directions are spot on and I don’t change a thing in terms of the ingredients. Make sure to use the DRY lady fingers, not the soft ones you sometimes see in the produce section of the grocery store. A really quick dip and flip in the coffee mixture is all they need. I use an 8×8 glass baking dish because that is what I have and it works perfectly.
Recipe for Easy Eggless Tiramisu