Chocolate Tiramisu

Recently, I was both intrigued and inspired by Ivonne's strawberry tiramisu at Cream Puffs in Venice. And since, I also always bake my own ladyfingers, use homemade whipped cream, and real mascarpone cheese in my desserts (and yes, mascarpone cheese can be homemade from cream cheese and heavy cream, although I often buy it), I agree with her sentiments, regarding the ubiquitous, manufactured versions of this wonderful dessert: it's enough to make you turn away, disheartened. But who can remain cross with such a delicious dessert as this?

Autumn, my favorite domestic goddess, lives two thousand miles away from me. We are first cousins, but grew up like sisters. Despite the distance, for months, Autumn has wanted me to make tiramisu for The Suburban Apron Company. Motivated by Ivonne's strawberry tiramisu, and also because Autumn mentioned it again, a few days ago in a telephone conversation, I made her a chocalate tiramisu, recipe courtesy Ghirardelli (her favorite brand of chocolate).

As with many luscious desserts, the history of tiramisu is typically vague, having varied sources of alleged origin. Anna Maria Volpi provides an excellent geneaology of tiramisu on her site, A Passion for Cooking. One primary point of agreement is the literal translation of the name, tiramisu, which is defined as, "pick-me-up," in Italian. So, here's a Friday "pick-me-up" for Autumn, and for all of you who have kindly stopped by The Suburban Apron Company.

Ghirardelli Tiramisu
(recipe courtesy www.ghirardelli.com)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup(s) Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
1/2 teaspoon(s) Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa
1/3 cup(s) confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup(s) coffee-flavored liqueur (see personal substitution)
1 1/2 teaspoon(s) pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt (optional)
1 1/2 cup(s) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoon(s) water 2 teaspoon(s) powdered instant espresso coffee
(or use coarsely ground espresso beans and vanilla extract, as I did)
6 ounce(s) ladyfingers, halved (about 2 dozen)
(or double if using unsplit, homemade ladyfingers)
12 ounce(s) mascarpone cheese