Egg-less baking is Gayatri’s baby and this time she asked us to make Tiramisu. The recipe was suggested by  Sowmya of Nivedhanam.

The girls were pretty excited that I was to make Tiramisu it was what they had wanted at Mangi’s and had not had because they were stuffed. Yes that happened occasionally!! They actually said they were not hungry enough to eat it.

But there was disaster that was waiting to strike.

 Read on and you will know dear reader what I mean. For the final product was finished by hubby, me and my colleagues. Who appreciated it a lot.

I must say that I picked the whole recipe from Deepali Jain who blogs at “Confusion Cook”! I have for once tried not to make any changes. Yes tried for…

I did tell you did disaster struck.

The mascarpone is from Pradnya who blogs at Pumpkin Farm

Eggless Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits

This recipe makes about 36 long biscuits (3″ long & ¾″ wide ideally).

Ingredients:

• 4 tblspn granulated Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• 1 ½ cups Amul butter
• 2 cups Maida
• ½  cup coarsely ground Almonds (you can use other nuts if you want)
• A bit more than ¼ cup of powdered Sugar (for coating)

Method:

• Preheat the oven at 160 C. (the recommended temperature is 150 by mine convection does not have the setting.
• Blend the sugar, vanilla essence, butter and Maida well.
•  Add the coarsely ground nuts and stir well.
• Scrape the batter into a piping bag with ¾″ plain tip (I removed the nozzle) and pipe into fingers about 3″ long at 1″ intervals onto an un-greased butter paper.
• Bake them for 30-45 minutes or till they start turning slightly brown at the edges.
• When done, remove from oven & cool on a tray for about 5 minutes and then move the biscuits to a cooling rack.
• When slightly cool, roll them in powdered sugar.
• Store in an air tight container till required.

The savoiardi is very tender, so handle with care till the assembling process!

Next make mascarpone cheese.

Ingredients:

• 1 litre Amul fresh cream
• 1 ½ teaspoon white vinegar

Method:

•  Boil the cream in a large pot on low heat using a double boiler.
•  If you have a candy thermometer, wait till the temperature rises to 90-100 c. Else, let it heat till it is just under boiling, slightly bubbling.
• add the white vinegar and keep stirring for another 5-7 min.
•  The cream may  not coagulate or may  sort of thicken
•  Keep stirring until it starts coating the back of the spoon, about another minute or so.
•  Now, strain this liquid, in a muslin cloth in a basin.  Tie the cloth from all sides.
•  Leave the bundle overnight in refrigerator.  About a cup of water or more will be accumulated
•  If the texture appears grainy, then beat using an electric beater.

Finally Assembling Tiramisu

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Chilled whipping cream
• 450 grms Mascarpone
• 1 ¼ cup Sugar
• 36 Eggless Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits (you may use as many or as little as you need)
• 2 cups strong filter coffee at room temperature
• 4 tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Method:

• My whipped cream was not sweetened so I had to add sugar to it. I added powered sugar say about ¾ cup.
• In a bowl beat the mascarpone cheese with a whisk in case it is not smooth.
• This will make it easier to fold. Now whisk together the mascarpone & sugar (go easy here) till smooth.
• Now since my whipped cream was without sugar as I mentioned earlier I mixed a spoonful of mascarpone with whipped cream and tasted it, rather the girls tasted it. The reaction was,” Mamma you have used cream cheese here and its tasting horrible!”

Too late I realized that I had kept the mascarpone ad cream cheese in identical containers. No labels…. So the girls were out of Tiramisu no amount of changes will change their minds.

I was in a soup I could not let go the cream was whipped...

So I tasted the cream adjusted the sugar and went ahead with the Tiramisu. Please do not ask me how much sugar I used as I was too upset to measure.

• Add ⅓rd of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and fold in gently. Carefully fold the remaining cream as well.
• Dip ⅓rd the eggless ladyfinger biscuits in the coffee till they are moist but not soggy, or they will fall apart.
• Transfer each ladyfinger to the serving dish. It will be a good idea top line the dish with Clingfilm with the film overhanging it will be easier to remove the tiramisu in one piece.
• Placing the biscuits side by side in a single row ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.
• Spread part of the prepared cream in uniform layer covering the biscuits completely. Smoothen out with the rubber spatula do not forget the edges.
• In a small strainer add the cocoa powder and sift evenly the cocoa on the cream till the cream is covered.
• Repeat with remaining biscuits & last of cream.
• Cover the dish with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Before serving, dust remaining unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Decorate with cherries, chocolate chips.
• Cut into portions & serve chilled.

The tiramisu keeps well in the refrigerator well for 2-3 days.

• Deepali has shared some tips  which I am not changing at all as they are very important and I do not want lose any info.
• The eggless ladyfingers do not have the soft cake-like texture of regular lady fingers biscuits and are more like nutty shortbread.
• They keep refrigerated for quite a bit in an airtight box.
• Do not dip the ladyfinger/ savoiardi into the coffee solution for more than ONE second, or they might become very fragile & disintegrate. Extra soaking is likely to spoil the end product, making it soggy.
• The eggless biscuits soften up really well if served at least 36 hours after assembling the tiramisu.
• For another variation, you can substitute coffee with orange juice i.e. dip eggless biscuits in sweetened orange juice instead of coffee.
• It might be a good idea to decide the size of the dish in which you intend to set the dessert, and make the fingers to a size which would fit that dish. This makes it easier when assembling the tiramisu later.
• While using the double boiler to make the mascarpone, always ensure that the bottom of the bowl on top doesn’t touch the bottom of the lower one. It is important to use a stainless steel bowl to pour your cream into, while making the mascarpone.
• This version is much richer because of the butter in the biscuits and uses more mascarpone (approx 6 times the regular one) than the other recipe.
• If you would like to de-mould your tiramisu from your dish (cutting can be easier and neater this way, you can line your dish with plastic wrap (leaving a little extra on the sides of the dish) and then start assembling your tiramisu. Once the tiramisu sets in the refrigerator, you can use the overhang to pull the tiramisu out of the dish.

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Archana

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