
I follow King Arthur Flour on Instagram and Facebook, so when they post a new recipe I always glance at it. More often than not I look at beautiful pictures of amazing breads, and once again I’m reminded of how much I am missing out… though seldom do I see a dessert that I know I can’t adapt to its gluten-free version. Last week, during a hot day, they posted a picture and a recipe of a Berry Tiramisu.
Growing up in Italy, we didn’t eat dolci al cucchiaio – literally translated as spoon desserts – at home. My mom loved to bake, but for some reason my family liked cakes and, at times, cookies, but almost never did we indulge in soft desserts like pudding or tiramisu.
So I think I have made Tiramisu only a few times in my life, but I was sure that it called for eggs. The King Arthur Flour recipe didn’t, so I searched for the original Italian Mascarpone Cream and substituted it in the King Arthur Flour recipe. In Italy we occasionallhy use raw eggs in recipes – pasta Carbonara for example, Tiramisu, etc. I grew up also eating uovo sbattuto – a whipped egg with sugar – as a snack sometimes. I am not sure why we trust the freshness of eggs in Italy more than we do here in the United States. Though I know that since moving here I like to pasteurize my eggs as much as possible, so I used a recipe for Mascarpone Cream with pasteurized eggs.
In addition, the King Arthur Flour recipe called for liquor but I really don’t like to soak my cakes in liquor. When I was getting married, I remember discussing that with the chef who tried to convince me that he needed to soak my wedding cake layers in liquor to moisten them or it would be too dry. I wasn’t a very demanding bride, but the cake, well that had to be just the way I wanted it. I told him that I didn’t care if it came out too dry, because with liquor in it, I wouldn’t eat it. Too bad that on the day of my wedding I was able to take only a couple of bites because they cleared the table when I went to say goodbye to a few guests… Bottom line, I omitted the liquor in my version of the Berry Tiramisu as well.
The final result is a very fresh, light, irresistible dessert, with a hint of citrus and sweet berries. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did.
ENJOY!