Modern cake with a kick - Tiramisu

My friend Stephanie is traveling in New York/New Jersey and reported that she had the best tiramisu ever from a restaurant called La Mia Cucina, somewhere near the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey that delivered directly to her hotel. I reported to her that I had a great recipe that a friend of my grandmother's used to make.

It was a little different that the tiramisu that we usually find in restaurants these days (the stuff we usually think of was a modern version of an old fashioned dessert that was first served in Italy in the 1960s). 

I figured that the old recipe would not be as good for those who want the newer version that we have all come to know and love and it's a lot more expensive to make and, thus, not quite so appropriate for a budget cooking blog.

So, I dug around in my chest of cookbooks, recipe files and scribbled notes from my grandmother and aunts (my kitchen cabinets are being redone so I have these things in a chest in the living room). I found this recipe on a faded yellow piece of newsprint that must have been from the 1960s - or maybe it was just poor quality newsprint so it aged faster, so it might be an early version of the latter day dessert. I whipped it up early this evening and snacked on a piece for a nearly-midnight snack.

Delish! (But a real diet no-no.)

So, Steph, if you or anyone else wants to make a less expensive, Americanized creamy, caffeine-y late night snack, this is the one for you.

It'll taste like an expensive treat, but it is certainly possible on a budget.

Tiramisu for the Rest of Us

1 8 ounce container of cream cheese

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 egg yolks

1 cup of whipped topping

3 cups of sweetened coffee at room temperature

1 7 ounce package of Lady Fingers

Powdered cocoa

• In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, the egg yolks and the sugar. Slowly fold in the whipped topping.
• Dip each of the Lady Fingers completely into the coffee, flipping over if you have to in order to coat both sides.
• Arrange the cookies in a single layer in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish. 
• Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over the cookie layer.
• Repeat the process with another layer of soaked cookies, and top with the remainder of the creamy mixture.
• Cover and refrigerate for two or three hours. Before serving dust the top with the cocoa powder.

Vegetarian