berry tiramisu

the other friday evening, we had a dinner for 7 people at home. since it was a fairly large group (i’m used to cooking for 2 people normally), i decided to prepare 2 desserts: regular tiramisu and berry tiramisu.

as i was whisking the mascarpone mix, i was thinking maybe it was too much for 7 people after the big meal. but to my surprise, it was all gone at the end of the dinner party so they must’ve been damn good 🙂 and the good thing is that the preparation was absolutely effortless – i made the mascarpone mix jointly for the both tiramisu’s (just doubled the usual portion), and separately prepared their fillings.

and today, i would like to share the recipe for the berry tiramisu, which is more unique and definitely hard to find in tokyo.

berry tiramisu

ingredients:

250g mascarpone cheese (usually 1 pack)
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
40g granulated sugar

280g frozen rasberries
200g fresh strawberries
50g granulated sugar
1 tbsp of kirschwasser (cherry liquor)

12 – 15 finger biscuits

directions:

1. in a large bowl, mix the egg yolks and mascarpone together until the texture becomes smooth
2. in another large bowl, beat egg whites to make merengue, while adding the sugar in 2 – 3 parts
3. gently and quickly add the merengue into the mascarpone mix in 2 – 3 parts
4. in a medium sized pan, add frozen rasberries and fresh strawberries
5. sprinkle sugar over the berries and leave it for 10 minutes or so
6. turn on the heat (low), and let it simmer until the berries are cooked. let it cool down.
7. separate the berries and liquid
8. add kirschwasser to the berry liquid
9. dip the finger biscuits one by one into the liquid and nicely lay them in a medium sized glass container
10. pour a half of the mascarpone mix over the finger biscuits
11. nicely spread the berries on top of the mascarpone mix
12. cover the berries with the rest of the mascarpone mix
13. let it sit in the fridge for at least 5 hours before serving
14. when serving, you can sprinkle powder sugar and/or some more fresh berries if you have

i’m so glad to have come up with this recipe. you get more praises from your guests than ever!

oh and just to give you more details about the dinner that evening, for the main course i cooked chicken marbella again, as it can be prepared the night before and as a result reduces the time for cooking in the evening of the dinner. i have to find more recipes which can be prepared the day/night before, which should be very handy for big dinner parties like this.

the entire menu was as follows:

appetizer: smoked salmon salad with grapefruits vinaigrette
main course: chicken marbella with jasmine rice
side dishes: tomato salad and cucumber salad
dessert: tiramisu, berry tiramisu

smoked salmon salad with grapefruits vinaigrette

the evening was filled with smiles and laughter, and everyone seemed to be satisfied with full stomach and empty wine bottles. i love having dinner parties like this. i think it is an ultimate luxury to end a busy week this way, with great friends, delicious food and interesting conversation.