When in doubt, go with dessert food porn

That's right, one of the things I did while not posting on the blog was some dessert food porn. Actually, this was the third time I've made this dessert recently. The other two, I completely forgot to document the process. Third time is the charm, I guess. A young lady I hope will be my next daughter-in-law helped document the making of the dessert this time around. more on her later.

So, what did we make? Tiramisu, a great Italian dessert. I worked from a stripped down recipe. Believe me, there are far more complex recipes out there, but I chose a little more simplicity. Still, it is work. You will start with an 8 oz. package of mascarpone ( a kind of cream cheese -- most good grocery stores have it. If you, you can substitute regular cream cheese.), 1/3 cup of sugar, 5 tblsps of Amaretto, 1/2 tsp of vanilla, 3 cups of whipped cream, 24 ladyfingers, 3/4 cups of espresso or strong coffee, some dark chocolate or semi-sweet baker's chocolate, and 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

Add the mascarpone and sugar in a medium-sized bowl:

Mix it up right, by which I mean beat it until it begs for mercy (3-4 minutes).

Fold in the whipped cream and keep that stuff at the ready. Meanwhile, get out your ladyfingers:

Split those suckers lengthwise:

Place a layer of ladyfingers in a 2-quart casserole dish such that the split ladyfingers cover the bottom of the dish:

Sprinkle that layer with espresso:

Pour 1/4 of the sugar-mascarpone-whipped cream mix over that layer (your going to wind up with four layers, because you split your ladyfingers):

It should look something like this:

Sprinkle that with cocoa:

Repeat for the other three layers of ladyfingers and stuff. Once all of your layers  are in place, grate that baker's chocolate and spread it over the top:

Chill that sumbitch for at least 4 hours. Overnight is sometimes recommended, but I think 4 hours should cover it. Then enjoy the hell out of it:

Bon appetit.