by Eva Scott

While my family hail from Italy we are not in the least traditional. One thing we do stick to every year is Tiramisu. This is made for special occasions only. We make it with Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) but you can make it with your favourite tipple.

Beware! It’s addictive.

FRANGELICO TIRAMISU

I like to make this dish in a foil tray (roughly 24cm square-ish). Foil bbq trays are exactly the right depth and there’s no washing up later! Alternatively any dish the same size will do fine.

Ingredients

• 250ml espresso coffee. If you don’t have the real deal you can dissolve 15g of espresso powder into 250ml of boiling water and it will do the trick.
• 250ml of Frangelico. I always find the savoiardi biscuits soak up the liqueur quickly so keep the bottle on hand for top ups.
• 30 savoiardi biscuits. There are two sizes so you may need less if you purchase the large biscuits.

For the filling:

• 2 eggs, separated
• 75g castor sugar
• 60ml Frangelico hazelnut liqueur
• 500g mascarpone
• 100g chopped roasted hazelnuts
• 3 teaspoons of good quality cocoa powder.

Method

1. Combine the cooled coffee and 250ml of Frangelico in a jug
2. Beat the egg whites until frothy. Place the yokes in a separate bowl and beat with the castor sugar and 60ml of Frangelico.
3. Add the mascarpone to the yolk mix, combine well.
4. Carefully fold the frothy egg whites into the mascarpone mix and combine well.
5. Pour half the coffee and Frangelico mix into a wide shallow bowl (or similar dish). Dip the biscuits into the mix ensuring both sides are coated. Do this quickly to ensure the biscuits are damp but not soaking. They do soak up liquid very quickly so don’t leave them sitting in the bowl or you’ll run out of coffee/Frangelico very quickly. Prepare enough biscuits to form one layer and place them in the dish.
6. Place half the mascarpone mix on top of the soaked biscuits, spreading it out for even coverage.
7. Repeat step 5 using the remaining coffee/Frangelico liquid and leftover biscuits.
8. Repeat step 6.
9. Cover the dish with cling film and refrigerate overnight – or for at least 6 hours.
10. Before serving the tiramisu combine the chopped hazelnuts and cocoa. Sprinkle this mixture over the top layer of mascarpone.

**Please note this dish contains raw eggs so may not be suitable for people with compromised or weak immune systems such as small children, the elderly or pregnant women.

In the battle of duty versus desire, only one can survive the hot Australian sunshine.