Italian Tiramisu

I just got back from Italy and wanted to try some Italian food to cook at home.I really like Italian dessert Tiramisu, but it contains coffee and alcohol, produce that I don't intake. So I need to come up with healthy version of Tiramisu, which I did.

I had to go to the international store to get Lady Fingers cookies and to the baking specialty store to get non-alcoholic version of Rum. Lady Finger cookies are like classic cookies for Tiramisu, but I think that any sugar cookies will do just fine.

Ingredients: 

4-5 egg yolks
1 cup of whipping cream
1/2 cup of sugar or sugar substitute
1 cup of strong coffee (I used PERO drink, which is made of roasted barley, no caffeine)
8 oz. of Mascarpone cream (it can be substituted with soft cream cheese beaten with 4 tb spoons of sour cream)
10-12 Lady Fingers cookies or other sugar cookies
3 tb spoons of cocoa powder 
1 tea spoon of flavored Rum or Marsala

Beat the whipping cream with 2 spoons of sugar until high peaks. In a separate bowl beat together egg yolks, flavored Rum or Marsala, 1 spoon of coffee drink and the rest of the sugar  until sugar is dissolved. Add Mascarpone cream and beat another 3 minutes. Slowly infold the whipped cream, but don't beat for long, just enough time to have it smooth and fluffy.

 

Now is the hard part: dip each Lady Finger cookies in cold coffee drink for 3-4 second and layer them up on the bottom of the serving dish. If you dip them longer, they will get to soggy and you will ruin the unique taste of Tiramisu. Use only half of the cookies, you will need them for two layers.





 
 Use the half of the whipped cream mixture to
cover the soaked cookies.
Repeat the procedure until all the cookies
and the cream are gone.


Use a small sifter to spread the cocoa powder on the top of the finished dessert. Let it chill at least for three hours. Serves 6 people.

 Enjoy!