Cherry Almond Tiramisu (Lower Sugar)

Submitted by EmmyDuckie

"Tiramisu is one of my all time favorite desserts, but I thought it needed a little twist, and maybe a little less sugar. Replacing most of the sugar in the traditional recipe with Splenda cuts down on the sugar rush, but still keeps the texture of the real thing. If you're concerned about fat, you can skip the egg yolks, but I think they add a nice creaminess that's missing without."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 30mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 12

ingredients

• 6 egg yolks
• 3⁄4 cup Splenda sugar substitute
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 12 ounces mascarpone cheese
• 16 ounces whipped cream
• 1⁄2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1⁄2 cup brewed espresso or 1/2 cup strong coffee
• 1 1⁄2 ounces amaretto liqueur
• 2 (3 ounce) packages ladyfingers
• 1⁄3 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and halved

directions

1. Mix egg yolks, sugar and Splenda in a metal bowl, and whisk until thick and pale yellow. It may not come together immediately, and may look too thick, but keep stirring, it does work after a few seconds.
2. Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, and reduce heat to low. Cook, stirring constantly for 8 to 10 min, or until mixture is smooth, and falls in ribbons from the whisk. Set aside to cool.
3. When egg yolks are cooled to room temperature, thoroughly beat in mascarpone, followed by about 2/3 of the whipped cream, and almond extract.
4. Mix Amaretto and espresso or coffee.
5. Line the bottom of a 3 quart casserole dish with half of the lady fingers, and brush with amaretto coffee. Layer on half of the egg yolk mixture, and half of the cherries, repeat layers. Top with remaining whipped cream and slivered almonds. Garnish with some whole cherries if you happen to have some left over.
6. Chill at least one hour, or until tiramisu has firmed up enough to make pretty slices.

Reviews

[Tinkerbell]

Based on flavor, I think this recipe is pretty good. The coffee really didn't shine through so I would suggest using espresso only. I had to make homemade ladyfingers, but halfway through making the cake I realized I'd made angel food instead of sponge cake. Too late to turn back now, so I sliced the angel food then baked the thin slices in a 350° oven for about 5 minutes then flipped them & baked 5 more. I made an amaretto liquer subtitution with 1/2 tsp almond extract & enough white grape juice to equal 1-1/2 ounces. Too late in the season for fresh cherries so I used frozen. Again, I would suggest fresh every time if possible. I also ran into trouble with the instructions. I always read the instructions but sometimes it takes actually doing it before things click. So anyway, step 1 went fine then I read step 2 & realized that the bowl I was mixing the egg yolks in should NOT be the stand mixer bowl. I don't have a double boiler & one is needed for this recipe so I transferred the yolk & sugar mixture to another stainless steel bowl & put it precariously over a pot of simmering water. I then switched to the hand mixer/whip & cooked the mixuture. However, after it cooled it was canary yellow glue on the bottom of the bowl. Not at all able to stir it with a spatual, I went ahead & beat in the mascarpone, whipped cream & extract. When I was putting the last layer of egg/cream mixture onto the dessert I realized most of the egg was still glued to the bottom of the bowl & never incorporated into the cheese & cream. I have no idea what I did wrong here. The flavor was nice but it was a lot more work than I had anticipated. Thanks for sharing your creation, Emmy! Made for Hidden Gems.