We just had Christmas with my family the other day. Here are some pictures of my tiramisu attempt. I'm calling it an attempt because it's the first time I have tried to make it and I did change it from the traditional recipe. Let me explain.
I decided I wanted to make tiramisu. This is the Italian dessert created from layers of espresso/Amaretto-dipped lady fingers and a heavenly cream made of mascarpone cheese, whipped cream, egg yolks and sugar. Tiramisu means, "pick me up to heaven" because of the caffeine and the light, lovely taste. It seemed right for a year we went to Italy AND it's Christmas!
Now I know it's not the healthiest thing to make, but I wanted to make it the most homemade from whole ingredients so at least my body wouldn't be poisoned from it. I did start by trying to buy lady fingers. This seemed easy enough, they were for sale at the store. My heart stopped, though, when I turned the package over and read the ingredients list. It was long and full of things I didn't recognize. I decided I couldn't poison people by using commercially prepared lady fingers. After checking recipes for lady fingers I decided to go with a plain, homemade yellow cake instead because lady fingers call for piping batter out onto pans. It seemed fraught with difficulty and I knew I could handle a plain yellow cake.
I baked the cake in jelly roll pans so it would be thin. Then I dipped big sections into a pan of espresso and Amaretto before laying them into my pan. I already had the cream ready. This started with egg yolks and sugar cooking in a double boiler. Then I added the mascarpone, then the whipped cream got folded in. Before I knew it I had a huge bowl of luscious creamy filling!
Now for the layering on top of the cake, then another layer of dipped cake and another layer of cream. It all got topped off with a sprinkle of pure cocoa and dark chocolate shavings.
I think it turned out pretty good, except the cake did absorb a lot of the espresso, making it seem soggy. Next time I'm going to brush on the espresso so it doesn't get too wet. The flavor was great, though. I enjoyed the real flavors of these ingredients without any chemical gunk in the way.
Do you read the labels of the items you are buying in the store? Aren't you shocked at all the unrecognizable ingredients? Many natural foods authors these days are recommending things like, "Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize." I think it's sound advice. Food manufacturers are motivated by making their products as profitable as possible. This might mean filling them with the cheapest ingredients possible and/or the ingredients which will stimulate the consumer to eat more even though these practices may be harmful to our health and well-being. These practices are definitely harmful to the taste of the food we eat. Have you ever noticed how something made with hydrogenated oil coats your mouth in an unpleasant greasy way? Have you sensed a metallic aftertaste to some commercially prepared products? How about just the weird look to all the artificially colored products out there? These are subtle signs that your body is giving you to tell you that this is not food!
Try making things yourself from real ingredients. It's fun and always an adventure like my tiramisu! Here are some websites to find recipes for anything you might want to make: http://www.heavenlytiramisu.com/basic.htm
http://allrecipes.com/Default.aspx
http://www.epicurean.com/index.html
Winter is a great time to cook. Give it a try, your body will thank you!