Tiramisu, my much needed pick me up!

I never deprive myself of sweet treats or desserts if I want them, I figure I have a well-balanced vegetarian diet which is for the most part very healthy and I am doing more exercise now than I have ever done before in my life so I think life is too short to be good all the time! Having said that I don't have an especially sweet tooth (nor does my husband) and I would normally opt for a savory treat rather than a sugary one anyway. Since moving to Indonesia I very seldom make desserts as many of the key ingredients are expensive or hard to get, so normally my baking or dessert making efforts are saved for special occasions such as Christmas or friends coming over for a meal. We are lucky enough to be able to afford to eat out quite regularly here in Bali as it is often cheaper to eat out than cook similar food at home on a smaller scale, so it is on these culinary adventures that if I haven't stuffed myself too much with my main meal I will indulge in a dessert at the end and one of my favorites on such occasions is tiramisu.

For those of you who don't know, 'tiramisu' is the Italian for 'pick me up' and that it certainly does! I am not even a fan of whipped cream but something about this cream, cheese, coffee and alcohol combination really does make me feel better! Normally mascarpone is really expensive here in Bali but I was delighted a couple of weeks back to find a brand that was a third of the price of the others, so I rushed to the biscuit isle to see if I could find some lady fingers too. Yes they had them! Well just being able to afford to make tiramisu was reason enough for me to rush home and start assembling it.

 

It is likely about 10 years since I made it last and I know that each place I eat it at here in Bali assembles it slightly differently so I messaged my mum back home and asked her for her recipe remembering that I had always enjoyed eating tiramisu she had made in the past. As I thought, she makes it combining an egg custard with the mascarpone and I was just too impatient to whip up a custard and wanted to opt for an even simpler version. I quickly scanned several recipes on the web, but in the end decided to let my instinct guide me and I am glad I did. I didn't get bogged down with measuring or weighing and just tasted as I went along. I didn't even care that I didn't have the perfect dishes to make it in, and decided to assemble individual portions in half pint mason jars and a couple of other small storage jars, which meant that they stacked easily in the fridge and kept fresh for the best part of a week! The result, a super simple, quick to assemble, creamy, light, delicious tiramisu. It was so good that I made it again yesterday having gone to the grocery store and finding the mascarpone was discounted by 50%! Let me tell you it has done wonders to pick me up this week so I hope it does you too!

Here is my super simple recipe which made 6 decent sized individual tiramisus, but of course you could make one big one.

Easy-peasy Tiramisu

Ingredients 
1 pack of lady finger biscuits
1 large cup of strong coffee 
1-2 shots of coffee liqueur (I used Patron XO Cafe)
250g mascarpone
250ml whipping cream
2tbsps caster sugar
2tbsps finely grated dark chocolate or cocoa to decorate (I used Green & Blacks ginger dark chocolate variety)

Method
Put a layer of the lady finger biscuits at the bottom of the half pint mason jars of any dish you are using for the tiramisu. Mix the liqueur into the strong coffee and pour over the lady fingers, making sure that each one is soaked and that there is a little excess liquid for the biscuits to soak up later. Using an electric beater combine the sugar into the mascarpone cheese. Whip the cream and then fold it into the sugar and mascarpone mixture. Folding it in keeps air in the mixture so that it is lighter. Cover the coffee soaked lady finger biscuits with the mixture (you can repeat the previous two steps if you are making this on a larger scale). Sprinkle the chocolate or cocoa over the top. Place in the fridge to chill. Enjoy!

"Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first." ~Ernestine Ulmer

My coconut island home, Bali, Island of the Gods.

I came to Indonesia in 1995 expecting to stay and work as an English teacher for a year or two, and instead I have made this beautiful country my home. After a year in Eastern Java teaching English I moved to Bali to continue teaching and exploring Indonesian culture. It is here I fell in love with the island, culture, food, sunshine,the lifestyle I can have here, and the people. I feel blessed to be living on the Island of the Gods, that I affectionately call the Coconut Island, and am inspired daily by this island paradise.

 

Image taken from Bali: Island of the Gods ebook by Robin Nichols

My passion for cooking has followed me from the UK to South East Asia and I am forever experimenting with cooking simple, healthy and vegetarian food. With the cost of living being so much less here in Indonesia I am lucky enough to be able to eat out often and be inspired by the food I try at the local warungs and restaurants. As so many expats like me have made Bali their home there is a fantastic array of food from around the world available here. With almost every blink of my eyes a new cafe, restaurant or warung has sprung open and I very much enjoy visiting these new eateries with my husband and friends to see what is on offer and get ideas for my own kitchen adventures. In future blogs I will share these moments with you and give you a glimpse of Bali, my life and my loves.

 

Jemeluk Bay, Amed, Bali. Photo by David Burden

 

I can't help but get excited by simple things such as my regular trips to the local fruit market (pasar buah) where an incredible selection of tropical delights are always to be found, bursting with color and flavor. Just when I think I have sampled all the fruits Indonesia has to offer I will stumble across a new one. With bags laden with fruit I rush home to make a tropical fruit salad, experiment with new juice combinations and think of ways to use these wonderful ingredients in my cooking and everyday menus. 

It is hard to tire of a place that is constantly changing and evolving, and I hope I never do.  The people I meet, the friends I make and the places I visit have a huge impact on me and my tastes and I too am always changing and evolving alongside the island. I hope you will find pleasure in my posts and photos about the things I enjoy and encounter here in Bali, the things that make me smile.