Monday, December 1, 2014

Pumpkin Tiramisu

So in my annual quest to do something other than pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving dessert, I came upon a Pumpkin Tiramisu recipe on Food and Wine's website http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pumpkin-tiramisu that sounded scrumptious yet relatively easy to make. After mulling over the ingredients for several days, I decided to change things around just a tad: substituted fresh ladyfingers for the dried, modified some of the ingredient measurements, added dark rum to the coffee mixture, and topped the finished product with crushed ginger snap cookies for some texture rather than using whipped cream (already plenty of cream in the filling), shaved chocolate (seems kinda weird with pumpkin IMHO) and candied ginger (too sweet). The beauty of this recipe is that there are no eggs and therefore, no worries for those squeamish about using raw eggs which are a typical component of a traditional tiramisu, and there's no cooking in or over the stove whatsoever!


Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream

29 oz. can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups (3 8-oz. containers) mascarpone cheese, softened (leave out at room temp)

2 cups strong coffee or espresso
3 tbsp. dark rum
2 tbsp. granulated sugar

4 3-oz. pkgs. fresh ladyfingers (or dried is ok)
1 cup crushed ginger snap cookies

1. In a large bowl, add the canned pumpkin, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and mascarpone cheese. Whip with a hand mixer at medium speed until well combined; set aside.

2. In a separate bowl, whip the whipping cream at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form; pour into the bowl with the pumpkin mixture and fold until well combined.

3. In a measuring cup or bowl, stir together the coffee, rum and 2 tbsp. granulated sugar. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. 

4. Dip each ladyfinger briefly on both sides in the coffee-rum mixture and line the bottom of a casserole dish or trifle bowl. Top with a few ladles of the pumpkin-cheese mixture and spread until it thoroughly covers the ladyfingers. Repeat with another layer of ladyfingers and pumpkin mixture. If your dish is deep enough, add a 3rd layer of ladyfingers and top with the remaining pumpkin mixture (or, you can create a 2nd, smaller dish with the remainder). 

5. Top with crushed ginger snap cookies, cover and refrigerate the tiramisu at least 4 hours or overnight. 

 Whip the whipping cream to stiff peaks.

Canned pumpkin, mascarpone cheese, salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, ground ginger, and nutmeg.  

Stir the pumpkin, brown & granulated sugars, salt, spices and mascarpone together.  

Blend over medium speed until well combined. Fold in the whipped cream.

Fresh ladyfingers, usually available in the produce section around the strawberries and/or other berries. Otherwise, the baked biscuit form (see below) is a perfect substitute.


Coffee mixture: 2 cups strong coffee (cooled), dark rum, and 2 tbsp. sugar. mixed until sugar has dissolved.  

Dip each ladyfinger very briefly on both sides (don't over saturate or the cake-like cookies will become too soggy in the tiramisu). 

Line a single layer of the dipped ladyfingers in the bottom of a large casserole dish.  

Ladle some of the pumpkin mixture over the ladyfingers and spread over to cover. 

Repeat the layers one or two more times, depending on the depth of your casserole (always end with the pumpkin mixture on top). You can also do this in a square springform pan (see below pics). If any leftover, use them to make another tiramisu in a smaller casserole.

 For the topping, crush some ginger snap cookies by placing in a ziploc bag, sealing, and pounding with the flat side of a mallet or rolling pin. 

Tiramisu made in a square springform pan.


Sprinkle the crushed cookies over the tiramisu. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.

Slice carefully with a spatula (offset spatula works best if you have one) as the tiramisu will be much softer than your average "cake" and serve. 

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