Speculoos Tiramisu

I will always remember the first time I had tiramisu.

It was a few years ago, I was probably around 11 years old.

We were living in New York then and my mom took me to Zaabar's, a well known delicatessen

in downtown Manhattan.

She picked up a few things before closing time, amongst them, the tiramisu. We went home and had it for dessert that evening and the next.

To this day, I'm convinced it was the best tiramisu I've ever tasted in my entire life (I have yet to taste one in Italy, which will probably surpass it all!)

I tried recreating that specific Zaabar's one, to no avail. I have finally given up and have sticked to the simple recipe.

This one however, has the Belgian twist: the use of Speculoos cookies instead of lady fingers or amaretti cookies.

What you'll need (for 6 people):

250g Mascarpone

3 eggs

6 tbsp of fine sugar

1 pack of vanilla sugar

Small bowl of coffee (not strong!)

3 tbsp of Amaretto Liquor

30 Speculoos cookies (crush 2 cookies for the garnish)

Start by preparing the coffee and add the 3 tbsp of Amaretto. Put aside for now.

Continue by separating the yolk from the egg whites and put them in 2 separate bowls.

Add the sugar and the mascarpone to the yolks and quickly mix with a spoon.

With a food mixer, beat the white to stiff peak (when you flip the bowl, nothing drops).

Proceed to beating the yolk, mascarpone and sugar mixture until everything is incorporated.

Add the stiff egg whites to the mascarpone mixture, with a spatula, little by little until everything is incorporated. Set aside.

Take the rest of the cookies and dip them quickly twice in the coffee and put them in the bottom of a deep dish or small bowl. Then add the mascarpone mixture. Repeat until you reach the top of the small bowl and until you run out of cookies and mascarpone

Add the crumbled speculoos on top to garnish and put them in the fridge for 4h-6h (or overnight for an even better taste).

#food #recipe #dessert