It all started when a friend posted a photo of his wife’s tiramisu on Facebook. I inquired after the recipe (as one does) and when I saw that the filling was just eggs, a little sugar, and mascarpone (no whipping cream?!), I was intrigued. It sounded simple, like actual food — eggs, cheese, coffee, and booze. So naturally I had to make it.

Which meant I needed to make the mascarpone.

I had some expired crème fraîche culture packets stashed in the freezer from whoknowswhen — and mascarpone is just drained crème fraîche — so I whipped up a batch (see yesterday’s YouTube video) and then turned right around and made the tiramisu. 

I thought it was delicious but no one else seemed too keen. The alcohol is too strong, they fussed. 

Two tablespoons of rum and it was too strong? Geez. 

But then I mentioned the tiramisu at work and one of the bakers got all excited. I make tiramisu, she said, and then in once forehead-slap second I recalled a small but mighty fact: she’s Italian. (While pounding butter blocks and glazing pastries, she’s regaled me with the most marvelous tales of her family basement stuffed to the gills with gallons of homemade wine, ropes of garlic and onions, and the huge Parmesans her uncles buy from a wholesaler.) We promptly launched a recipe comparison and, much to my delight, my recipe was almost identical to hers.

Except!
*her proportions were scaled up, since she made a bigger pan
*her recipe called for mixing the alcohol into the pudding and dipping the ladyfingers in just the espresso (I dipped the ladyfingers in a rum-espresso mix, no alcohol in the pudding)
*she used 1 cup — one CUP — of alcohol
*she used brandy instead of rum

So I made another batch of mascarpone and then another tiramisu, this time with brandy mixed into the filling (but just a half cup, since I’m modest like that). It was better. The alcohol was stronger, yes, but it felt less bracing and more cohesive. Perhaps the fat from the eggs and cheese had tempered it somewhat? 

Still, no one in my family much cared for it because: Alcohol. And my mom was like, Raw eggs, Jennifer? Which made me laugh because she basically raised me on ice cream made with raw eggs (and then later it occurred to me that tiramisu is pretty much just a cheesecake version of eggnog but minus the nutmeg).

I made a bowl of tiramisu with the excess

So after I ate my fill, I passed the bulk of it off to a friend. She texted later, “That tiramisu was the bomb!!!!” and when I followed up to see what she thought about the alcohol (more? less?), she said, “I liked it, but a little less booze would be ok.”

So there you go: if you like booze and coffee, then I expect you’ll like tiramisu. If you don’t, then you won’t. End of story.

P.S. I didn’t take any cross-section photos of the second tiramisu but here’s a photo of the first one:

Note that a bunch of the espresso settled to the bottom. This was, perhaps, because my layers of pudding were too thin and didn’t create a sufficient barrier. With the second tiramisu, I made more substantial pudding layers, which omitted the soggy bottom.

Tiramisu
Adapted from a mash-up of recipes from Grace and Maria.

*I never measured my mascarpone: I just made 1 quart of cream into cheese and then used that.
*Three double-shots of espresso were sufficient. If you don’t have an espresso maker, just use really strong coffee.
*I used Balocco Savoiardi Ladyfingers — Amazon sells a big bag which makes enough for a double batch of tiramisu.
*Make sure the espresso is cool — otherwise the ladyfingers will disintegrate.)
*I used a small rectangular pan (maybe 7×11 inches?) and it overflowed, so go with a 9×13 pan, or a large springform pan.

1 pound mascarpone, approximately
4 eggs, divided
½ cup sugar, divided
½ cup brandy
1 ¼ cups espresso, chilled 
about 30 ladyfingers (approx 300 grams)
unsweetened cocoa, for dusting

Beat the egg whites, gradually adding ¼ cup of sugar, until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl and set aside. 

In the same mixing bowl (no need to wash it), beat the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of the sugar for 3-5 minutes, until fluffy and light in color. Beat in the mascarpone. Fold in the eggs whites. Stir in the brandy. 

Quickly dip the ladyfingers, one at a time, in the espresso and arrange them in a single layer in the bottom of the pan. Dollop in half the pudding and spread it smooth. Repeat with a second layer of espresso-dipped ladyfingers and the remaining pudding. Dust the surface liberally with cocoa powder and transfer to the fridge. Allow the tiramisu to chill for at least 12 hours before serving. (You can eat it right away but the ladyfingers may still have a bit of a crunch to them; after 12 hours they should be completely soft.)

Tiramisu lasts in the fridge for dayssssssssss.

One more thing: I sent some of the tiramisu (from the second batch) in to my Italian co-worker.

Here are some clips from her texts: There’s something about the cream that’s pretty different from mine but that may be because it’s homemade mascarpone. And, The cream is a bit more sweet and rich than what mine turns out to be. And, I also use significantly more alcohol. She thought the coffee should be stronger, but when I told her how much I used, she said maybe I just needed to dunk the ladyfingers in the coffee a tad bit longer. Also! I really like it and I’m quite picky with my tiramisu.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (8.10.20), my beef obsession, the quotidian (8.10.15), goodbye, getting my halo on, how to can peaches.

I can’t make cream cheese from raw milk. Or maybe I should say: I’ve made cream cheese a couple different times, both the Swiss and the French methods, and it didn’t work. Since raw milk is non homogenized, the residual milk separates from the cream while it’s rennetizing and then the cream cheese ends up with little flecks of white milk cheese in it. It’s not bad, but it’s not as creamy and smooth as I want it to be. 

But then I learned to make mascarpone which is just drained crème fraîche (YouTube video out today!), and the results were similar to cream cheese, but softer and richer, more like a cultured creamy butter.

The first time I made it, I cultured it for about fourteen hours and then strained it for about five, and the cheese more tangy and dry, almost like a crumbly cheese. The second time I made it, I cultured it for no more than twelve hours and drained it for about three. At room temp, the cheese was softer and creamier, though in the fridge it still set up fairly solid. (Of the two versions, this is the one I prefer. All the photos in this post are of the creamier version. If you want to see the drier version, check out the YouTube video.)

I made tiramisu with the mascarpone (recipe coming!), and then I got to thinking about cheesecake. Using mascarpone all by itself as the base for a cheesecake felt a little excessive (though I haven’t actually tried it, so I could be wrong), and most recipes that called for mascarpone always used it in conjunction with cream cheese. 

And that’s when it occured to me: what if I mixed quark — that soft German cheese made from skimmed milk — with mascarpone? Would that work as a cream cheese substitute for a cheesecake? So I made a cheesecake, half quark and half mascarpone, and….

It works!

It’s still not as rich and velvety as a cheesecake made from store-bought cream cheese, but it’s much lighter and creamier than a cheesecake made from straight quark (which, to be sure, is lovely in its own right) and the closest I’ve gotten to a cream cheese equivalent to date. I just can’t settle on what to call the cheesecake. Quarkapone Cake? Mascaquark Cake? Mascaquarkapone Cake?

Mascarpone Cheese
Adapted from the instructions from New England Cheesemaking Supply Company

1 quart heavy cream
1 pack crème fraîche starter culture
1/2 – 1 teaspoon non iodized salt

Right before bed: Heat the cream to 86 degrees. Sprinkle the starter culture over the surface and let rest for 2 minutes to rehydrate. Whisk in the culture, cover with a lid, and let sit at room temperature for 12 hours.

In the morning: pour the crème fraîche (because that’s what the cream is now) into a cheesecloth, gather the edges into a bundle, and hang it for 3 hours to drain. (If you want a drier, crumblier cheese, drain for 5-6 hours.)

Transfer the cheese — it will seem more like a thin pudding at this point — into a jar, stir in some salt to taste, optional (though the addition of salt will give the cheese a longer shelf life), and store in the fridge for 1-3 weeks.

To make a Mascaquarkapone Cake: follow this recipe, but in place of the cream cheese use 1 pound of mascarpone and 1 pound of quark.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (8.9.21), black pepper tofu and eggplant, gazpacho, Mondays, a week of outfits, Murch mania 2017, best banana bread, elf biscuits.

That new blender I bought?

It broke! The other day when my daughter was trying to pry it up to put it away — it has some pretty intense suction-cup thingies on the bottom that make the blender really adhere to the work surface — the base broke.

The blender still works but it’s no longer secure. (When my husband looked into the issue, he discovered that other people have had this same problem.)

I told myself that if this blender breaks, then we’re getting a Vitamix, but now I’m hesitating. I really, really liked that Foodi Ninja, and Vitamix’s high price point (about the cost of a stove, practically) seems a little outrageous. Plus, the Vitamix has just a single blade so it’s basically just an ordinary blender, right? Would it really be as effective as the Foodi Ninja’s ferocious 3-blade blending?  

Since I’ve never used a Vitamix, I emailed some friends who have Vitamixes. What about making butter? I asked. (I’ve heard that the Vitamix heats up ingredients — you can make soup in it — which would be disastrous for butter.) Do you have to use the tamper while blending? Did it have a dough blade? How effective is it at processing tough stuff like nuts?

Here’s what they said:

*No idea about a dough blade. (Maybe Vitamix sells one for, like, $975.00.) 
*We have a separate container (with blade) for dry ingredients which I use to make whole wheat flour. But I think we bought that separately.
*The dry container works for nuts and other stuff. 
*It makes beautiful butter from cold cream straight from the fridge.
*I used to make smoothies all the time and I rarely even needed to tamp them down. 
*We have made pesto in it. 
*Ours bit the dust a couple times and they fixed/replaced it for free.

Hmmm, not exactly convincing, but not exactly negative, either. Just, not the rave review I was hoping for to justify a splurgy purchase. 

For years, we used a simple Oslo. (According to Amazon, we bought a replacement blender in 2019.)

While I liked the one-switch simplicity (flip up to go fast, down to go slow), and appreciated that it was durable and easy to find replacement parts, it required a lot of hands-on coddling. Plus, it needed lots of liquid to blend properly (stiff smoothies were A Real Project), had a small canister, was super loud, and the motor always smelled hot. 

Switching to the Foodi Ninja, I was blown away by its efficiency and practicality. I loved the way the 3-tiered blade chewed up the food in mere seconds. I loved how I could lift out the blade and then pour directly from the canister. I loved how the lock-on lid, the solid base, and the different settings allowed me to walk away. I even liked all the little extras (which I thought I would hate): the dough blade that I used for making butter and the second, smaller blade base and the two other canisters for smoothies, nut butters, etc. 

Yet even with all that wonderfulness, it only lasted for two months.

So now what? Do we spring for a Vitamix? Do we dig deep into the Internets in hopes of finding another, lesser known and more economical, blending beast and then take our chances? And if we do get the Vitamix, which package should we choose? There are so many options! (The benefit of buying from Costco is that we can always return something if it goes wrong….)

So I’m turning to you, friends. What kind of blender do you have? Why do you love it (or not)? Do you have a Vitamix, and is it worth the cost?

My dream is a workhorse blender than I don’t have to even think about (except to swoon over its wonderous powers) for at least a good 10 years. It might be unrealistic, but I’m still hoping.

This same time, years previous: cuajada, in the kitchen, the quotidian (8.6.18), pile it on.