magic

magic fingers have made a comeback! second attempt at tiramisu making (after years of absence) was a success, yeay! also, managed to prepare 2 types of chicken dishes, one a slightly spicy chili fried chicken and another was teriyaki chicken for iftar. warming up the cooking skills, hehehe...

well, back to tiramisu. the first attempt was last week, which failed miserably. not because of rusty skill :P, but the wrong use of ingredient. it was actually the right ingredient but wrong choice of brand. as i've previously mentioned in entry titled cook, the cost of preparing tiramisu right here is unbelievably expensive. so, for the first try, i bought the cheapest mascarpone cheese available at cold storage, for a start. tried and tested, and it tasted awful. for the second try, i bought the more expensive one (costs double), and had to use 2 pots of cheese! but the result, it was very much worth it. sometimes, we just had to go for the more expensive ones for the quality. expensive items are better, although not all the time but most, isn't it?

and here is the recipe, if anyone interested. it's actually the simplest to the original and have been modified to my liking ;)

ingredients:

3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
500 grams mascarpone cheese
24 ladyfingers (boudoir fingers / sponge fingers)
1 cup cold espresso (strong coffee)
cocoa for sprinkling
 

methods:
1. in a medium bowl, beat yolks with sugar and vanilla until smooth and light yellow over double boiler. fold mascarpone into yolk mixture. set aside.
2. dip ladyfingers briefly in coffee and arrange 12 of them in the bottom of an 8x8 inch dish. spread half the mascarpone mixture over the ladyfingers. repeat with remaining cookies and mascarpone. cover and chill for at least 7 hours in the fridge. sprinkle with cocoa just before serving.

have fun making them!