Tiramisù

• Servings: 10 to 12.

This luscious recipe is from Cooking at Home With Bridget & Julia --  Bridget Lancaster and Julia Collin Davison who are co-hosts of America's Test Kitchen as well as practiced home cooks. 

In the head-note to this recipe, Julia writes how tiramisu is her husband Ian's favorite dessert and so she makes this recipe which bests those he orders in restaurants.  The secret to success is in knowing how long to soak the lady finger cookies in the coffee-rum mixture:  too long and they fall apart and too short a soak and they stay too crisp.  Her tip is to count the seconds for each cookie as you dip it. 

Ingredients

• 2½ cups strong brewed coffee, room temperature
• 9 tablespoons dark rum
• 1½ tablespoons instant espresso powder
• 6 large egg yolks
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1½ pounds mascarpone cheese (3 cups)
• ¾ cup heavy cream, chilled
• 14 ounces dried ladyfingers (dried ladyfingers, sometimes called savoiardi; do not use fresh ones)
• 3½ tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa
• ¼ cup grated semisweet or bittersweet chocolate (optional)

Directions

1. Stir coffee, 5 tablespoons rum, and espresso in wide bowl or baking dish until espresso dissolves; set aside.
2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip egg yolks on low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and whip on medium-high speed until pale yellow, 1½ to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice. Add remaining ¼ cup rum and whip on medium speed until just combined, 20 to 30 seconds; scrape down bowl. Add mascarpone and whip on medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds, scraping down bowl once or twice. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.
3. In now-empty mixer bowl, whip cream on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.
4. Working with one at a time, drop half of ladyfingers into coffee mixture, roll to coat, remove, and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. (Do not submerge ladyfingers in coffee mixture; entire process should take no longer than 2 to 3 seconds for each cookie.) Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly into dish.
5. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers with spatula, spreading mixture to sides and into corners of dish, then smooth surface. Place 2 tablespoons cocoa in fine-mesh strainer and dust cocoa over mascarpone.
6. Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers and dust with remaining 1½ tablespoons cocoa. Wipe edges of dish clean with paper towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours. Garnish with grated chocolate, if using; cut into pieces and serve chilled. (Tiramisù can be refrigerated for up to 1 day.)

From Cooking At Home With Bridget and Julia, by Bridget Lancaster, Julia Collin Davison, and the Editors at America's Test Kitchen.  © 2017, published by America's Test Kitchen.  Published with permission.