My Friend Vyd's Italian Ex-Boyfriend's Mother's Tiramisu - Part 3

So I completed the Tiramisu several days ago but have not had the time to put up the photos and the recipe. But finally here it is. And as I made this I came to realize that Tiramisu is not an exact science. The recipe is really a guide. As the title suggests the recipe is from my friends ex-boyfriend's mother. It got rave reviews from my husband. He kept saying "This is really good." So here is the recipe.

My Friend Vyd's Italian Ex-Boyfriend's Mother's Tiramisu

Yield is one 13 by 9 inch pan or plastic container:

3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2+ cups Mascarpone(or ricotta)
1 tsp vanilla
Lady fingers or Biscotti
1+ cup strong coffee or espresso(if using a Mocha espresso maker do 3 Mochas worth)
1/2+ cup Liquor(Rum, Khalua or Amaretto)
Unsweetened Cocoa powder(to generously dust on top)

The first step is to separate the eggs. Mix the yolks with the sugar, mascarpone and vanilla. Then beat the whites until stiff peaks form. Slowly fold whites into egg/cheese mixture.

In a separate dish mix the espresso and liquor together.

Spread a small bit of egg/cheese mixture on bottom of pan. Put biscotti in espresso to soak aprox. 15-30 seconds(turn to let it soak into both sides). Then layer biscotti in pan. Then top with egg mixture. You can do 1 or 2 layers of biscotti depending on how amounts are working(with this recipe I suggest 1 layer). If you do 2 layers, lay biscotti the opposite way the second time. End with egg mixture.

Top with a generous layer of cocoa powder and any other decorative food item i.e. chocolate shavings or chips(or coconut like I did). You can also stencil designs with cocoa powder and powdered sugar.
Refrigerate 4 hours to one day. Enjoy!

A few notes about this recipe:

I put too thick of a layer of egg/cheese mixture on the bottom of the pan and I ran out of topping before my second layer of biscotti was completely covered so I had to make more egg/cheese topping to make up for it. So the first layer(of egg/cheese) needs to be thin or you should do only one layer of biscotti.

I used Amaretto because I happen to have some. I really liked how the flavor turned out(I do love Amaretto flavor, though). Also you could just use extra coffee if you wanted to skip the liquor.

I used biscotti because I couldn't find ladyfingers but I think that ladyfingers might work better.

If you are timid about raw eggs you could use some pasteurized egg substitute in the egg/cheese mixture(or leave egg out altogether) and then use whipped cream instead of whipped egg whites.

Also, in case you are wondering the sugar I used was called Demerara and it is an almost brown color. I tend to use this type of sugar rather than just white. Theoretically, it has a bit more nutrition and really great flavor.

I think that is all. Thanks, Vyd!

Here is a little poem about Italy to finish off this entry:

Italy

We had no idea
that the Duomo stood
resolutely behind us.
We would have talked of much
grander things, I am sure.
I suppose if we had been listening
we could have heard the Bell strike in its tower.

But we were children
listening to the crackle of leaves
as we kicked them out of the gutters into the air.
We had no idea of such elevated things
as High Renaissance Art and Ghiberti.
We were too busy rolling lemon gelati around in our mouths
and drinking out of fountains.