Tirami-su-su-suvia!

We had this church thing on Saturday and they were asking for lots of people to make Tiramisues...I figured of all things I CAN DO THAT! I am capable of baking! The caveat being that it had to meet what we call "word of wisdom" standards. Meaning no espresso or rum (or any alcohol actually, so that kind of rules out most extracts even). Kind of not sounding like Tiramisu huh?! The recommendation was to dip any choice of cookies in milk and layer with whip cream. I was not satisfied with this option either. I set out to find a Tiramisu recipe and make adjusts as needed. I settled on using Pioneer Woman's recipe as the foundation. I didn't want to use mascarpone cheese (that junks expensive!) so I also sub'd that. And finding Lady Fingers was a chore and a half...fortunately I DID find them and did not have to make a sponge cake as substitution. My reflections on the process:
1. I didn't get to taste it so I don't even know if it was edible. (kind of hard to mask a bite from a 9x13 pan!)
2. I am a fan of tiramisu but not this much, I'll be buying mine in the future
3. It's WAY too much work for a dessert. But have your hand at it, it's worth at least one shot.

Recipe (adapted from Pioneer Woman)

Original Recipe:

5 egg yolks

¼ c sugar

½ c marsala **

16 oz mascarpone cheese**

1 c heavy whipping cream

4 Tbsp sugar

1 ½ c strong espresso **

¼ c marsala **

1 Tbsp vanilla

LOTS of lady fingers (if you can find the real-deal lady fingers that are like those seen on pioneer woman’s site, USE them, otherwise go with the little spongy kind I found at Publix—made by Specialty Bakers, they’ll work but they’re not the best)

SUBSTITUTIONS:

· For Marsala: I mixed 1 c pineapple juice, ½-1 tsp almond extract & 1 Tbsp dark molasses together til well combined, then measure out desired amount in place of marsala

· For Mascarpone cheese: 2 8-oz pkgs cream cheese+4 Tbsp sour cream+ 4 Tbsp whipping cream (not whipped) + 1-2 Tbsp butter

· For Espresso: 2 c HOT water + 2 Tbsp either unsweetened cocoa OR nutella spread, mix together until well blended, use desired amt of liquid

Again, I don’t have a clue how it really turned out, but I don’t think these substitutions would likely be terrible; unfortunately, I don’t think they’ll take the place of real tiramisu either. So try your hand at it, or just go buy some at your fav Italian place.