One of the things I missed most when going strictly gluten-free was yummy, decadent tiramisu dessert! Very simple to make however the tricky part was finding gluten-free ladyfinger (Savoiardi) cookies, which incidentally is the main ingredient in this dessert. Anything less than that would make this cake ‘almost’ good at best **sigh**

My main concern was that even if there were ‘gluten-free’ versions of ladyfingers out there that their taste and texture would not be ‘up to par’ and just a pitiful wannabe imitation 🙁

The positive gal in me figured that I had nothing to lose and if they were good then I’d come out a winner and boy did we have a WINNER!

The Schar gluten-free ladyfingers are so close to the real thing that we tested it on family and friends (Italians of course and those who would notice the difference right off the bat) and guess what? They couldn’t tell it was gluten-free! Of course at first I had to ‘pretend’ that I couldn’t eat it because it wasn’t ‘safe’ for me to have, not to blow our cover, but as soon as we served it and didn’t hear any comments along the lines of ‘um…how did you make this’ accompanied by a puzzled look we knew that in this case ‘silence’ said it all. They didn’t taste the difference at all! When we told them it was gluten-free they couldn’t believe it. So there you have it, tried and tested among ‘my people’ and it was a success!

It was that delicious that I just had to share it with you! It’s such a light and fluffy dessert and that coffee taste along with that hint of Amarula really make this a family favorite!

I make mine in a large Tupperware measuring 10x13x3 high as shown in the pictures you see here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You’ll need:

475      grams of Mascarpone – Galbani – 500 gr
6          large eggs, separate egg yokes from whites in two separate bowls. Place yokes in a large bowl and egg whites in a small bowl
6          tablespoons of sugar
2          ounces of Liquor of choice (I prefer a Baileys or Amarula)
5          packs of the Schar Ladyfingers, 5.3-Ounce (Pack of 4) (click link to purchase in case you can’t find them at your local grocers) 5 packs of cookies will make the large Tupperware but you’ll need less if you’re making a smaller one
1          large pot of Espresso coffee (12-cup)

With the help of a blender begin by beating the 6 egg yokes and 6 tablespoons of sugar together until they are creamy. Add the marscarpone cheese and liquor and beat again together until creamy. Set aside

Next, beat the egg whites with a blender on high until thick and fluffy.

Carefully fold the egg whites into the marscarpone cheese mixture until mixed together and set aside.

Transfer the espresso coffee into a small bowl (feel free to add a tiny bit of extra liquor in the espresso as well if you like). Dip the ladyfingers in the espresso and layer the bottom of the tupperware pan with the drenched ladyfingers.

Cover the layer of lady fingered with a layer of the marscarpone mixture.

Repeat dipping the lady fingers in espresso and adding another layer but this time in the opposite direction (you want to create criss-cross layers with the cookies like you would a lasagna). I hope i’m not confusing you 🙁 let me try again…if your first bottom layer of cookies are all placed length-wise, the next layer will be placed width-wise).

Add another layer of mascarpone cheese.

Repeat until you’ve reached the top of your Tupperware container.

Your last top layer should be the Mascarpone cream.

Sprinkle cocoa powder all over. Your finished product should look like this:

Chill for a minimum 6 hours…you want the cookies to soften fully.

We also made these in individual cappuccino cups and used gluten-free butter cookies. We followed the same steps as above but prepared them individually. The butter cookies were good too but I prefer the cake version.

Ready and serve!

 

I would love your comments below so please do share what your favorite dessert is and what makes it so special! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

Thanks guys!

Product Links:

Note…if you’re from Montreal or Ontario you will find these cookies at specialty grocers or Italian importers. In Montreal you’ll find these at Berchicci Imports. The links below are mainly for our friends in the US 🙂

Mascarpone – Galbani – 500 gr

Schar Ladyfingers, 5.3-Ounce (Pack of 4)