I adore strawberry season, so I don’t mind posting three strawberry desserts in a row (or more!). But as I scrolled through the strawberry recipes on the website, I noticed that this post from last year had mysteriously disappeared, probably during the redesign. It’s so good, it needs its place back, so I am reposting!
I am messing with tradition here and I know it. This recipe is far from a traditional Italian tiramisu and I know it, but I think it retains the general spirit, so I’ve used the name happily. I first had tiramisu on a school girl trip to Italy when I was fifteen. The name was exotic and Italian and sophisticated and the waiter taught us all how to pronounce it correctly. Whenm I got home, I told my rather gourmet aunt that I had simple adored the tiramisu, and she searched high and low to find me a copy of the classic cookbook that had the recipe she preferred. I made it a few times for family, probably as an excuse to show what I sophisticated world traveler I had become. It made appearances on my table over the years, the classic custardy egg and mascarpone version, but I found it to be a little troublesome. When I friend let me know she just loved tiramisu, I started whipping up a simpler version for her on occasion – just a creamy mascarpone filling with espresso soaked savoiardi and a sprinkling of cocoa and it became a hit. But the honest truth is, I don’t like coffee. Not the drink, not the ice cream, not the truffle in the Valentine chocolates. So despite my adolescent pretensions, I don’t particularly love tradtional tiramisu.
But I do love this creamy, berry-laden no bake riff on the idea. It’s become easier to find the Italian ladyfingers at better grocery stores, and the sweet spring berries are wonderful with the tangy mascarpone. I make a strawberry jam with a dose of elderflower liqueur every year that I get frequent requests for, so I decided it would be the perfect addition to this recipe. I use St. Germain, which is widely available, even in little airplane bottles. If you can’t find it or just don’t want to try, use another liqueur like Cointreau or Triple Sec, or a little lemon juice.
Ingredients
- For the Base
3 cups strawberries, hulled and halved
2 Tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
2 Tablespoon elderflower liqueur
- For the Filling
1 cup heavy cream
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
16 ounces mascarpone, at room temperature
2 Tablespoons elderflower liqueur
- For Assembly
1 ( 7.5 ounce package) Italian lady finger (savoiardi)
2 cups hulled, sliced strawberries
1 ½ cups heavy cream
2 Tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
Directions
- For the Base
- Puree the strawberries, liqueur and sugar in the carafe of a blender until smooth and liquid. Pour into a wide bowl and set aside.
- For the Filling
- Beat the heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. As the cream thickens, slowly add the confectioners’ sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Add the mascarpone and the liqueur and beat until combined and thick.
- For Assembly
- Choose an 8 by 8 inch dish with high sides. Dip each ladyfinger in the strawberry puree and flip to oat both sides. Place in the dish and repeat with half of the ladyfinger, covering the bottom of the dish. Spread half of the mascarpone filling over the lady fingers and top the mascarpone with half of the sliced strawberries. Drizzle over about 2 Tablespoons of the strawberry puree, then dip and layer the remaining ladyfingers. Spread over the rest of the filling, another layer of sliced strawberries and a drizzle of puree.
- Whip the heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer and slowly add the sugar until thick and stiff peaked. Spread the whipped cream over the top of the tiramisu to cover the strawberries. Cover the dish and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Reserve the remaining puree covered in the fridge to drizzle over the top of the tiramisu before serving.
- Cut into slices and serve drizzled with strawberry puree.
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