Clementine Tiramisu

Are you one of those who always have a bunch of these in the fridge lately? And while you love munching on them, you would love to see have them in different form? If so, you are at the right place. It's all about Clementines out here too and why not? This is the best time to get them in their freshest form and they taste so good! Lately they have been our breakfast, lunch and dinner in one form or the other.



And here is something I'm making (almost) every day these days! Clementine Tiramisu . Yes a tiramisu soaked in clementine juice, layered with a creamy cheese and egg mixture with some dried cranberries sandwiched in between. And what the heck, I threw in some cocoa to top it off as well.



And I'm not kidding when I say that we are eating this every day. Probably because it is so light that it never really fills you up. So we are not getting bored and trust me people, we get bored with things PRETTY fast!



Ok, so first for the people who don't know exactly what a Tiramisu is, let me tell you a little about it. A traditional tiramisu is a pudding-like dessert that usually consists of sponge cake or ladyfingers dipped in a liqueur, then layered with grated chocolate and rich custard. Now that's all I knew about a traditional tiramisu. It comes from Italy and since I didn't know about the origin or history of this delicious dessert I did what everyone does when they don't have an answer. I googled it! Found some interesting things about it, some of them being the fact that the tiramisu was originally made as a loose custard, it is only in recent years that mascarpone cheese has made its way into it. There's a debate about who came up with that recipe n blah ... You don't wanna know that! All you wanna know is how you can eat it its made. Right?



The recipe is so simple! Just grab some eggs, get the yolks, save the whites for breakfast. Add some sugar, then some cheese, then whatever flavor you want. I wanted my tiramisu to have a clementine flavor so I added clementine juice to the custard and to make it a little tangy, I added a hint of lemon juice. Now start making layers of lady fingers (or sponge cake, whatever you have) and the custard. Following is the recipe for individual tiramisu which serves six people, but you can totally make a single cake with it as you can see in the photographs.

Ingredients:

24-30 ladyfingers
16 oz mascarpone cheese
2 cup freshly squeezed clementine juice (looks like a lot, but its not!)
1/2 cup dried cranberries (soaked in juice for a few hours)
6 large egg yolks (at room temperature)
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 cup cocoa powder (for dusting on the top) optional



Method:

Beat egg yolks and sugar on a high speed until they become thick and light in color.
Just whisk the cheese a little to break it so that it doesn't form lumps. Then turn the mixer to low and add mascarpone cheese, half of the clementine juice (one cup), lemon juice and vanilla extract.
Your custard is ready.
Now you can either use a 9x12 in. dish to layer your tiramisu or like me, get a few glasses or tall bowls.
Dip ladyfingers into the rest of the clementine juice and place them on the dish making first layer.
Sprinkle some cranberries and then pour half the custard over it. Spread it evenly to cover the whole surface.
Now repeat the same process starting with ladyfingers and keep going as far as you want!
Once you are done layering, smooth the top, cover it with a plastic wrap and pop it inside the refrigerator for at least 4-6 hours. This would help tiramisu soak all the moisture.
Before serving, garnish it with the fruit that you used or you can sprinkle a layer of cocoa powder on the top.