Griff’s Coffee Toffee Tiramisu

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INGREDIENTS

For the Griff’s Coffee Toffee Cream

  • 10-12 pieces Griff’s Coffee Toffee (use more or less toffee depending on how crunchy you want your dessert to be)
  • 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar packed
  • Heavy pinch salt
  • 1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup salted caramel liqueur (such as Bailey’s) or caramel or butterscotch dessert sauce

For the Espresso “Dip”

  • 1 1/2 cups cold espresso or strong coffee
  • 1/4 cup coffee liqueur (I used Grind Espresso Shot) optional

To Assemble and Finish

  • 3 packages of 24 lady fingers (savoiardi) (you might not use them all)
  • Cocoa powder for sifting, stencil optional

INSTRUCTIONS

For the Coffee Toffee Cream

  1. Using a chef knife, finely chop the toffee. Set aside.
  2. Pour the heavy cream into a large bowl. Add the brown sugar and salt. Whisk a couple of times and allow to sit for about 10 minutes so the sugar dissolves
  3. Using a hand mixer or in your stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whisk the cream until it reaches medium-soft peaks. 
  4. Add the room temperature mascarpone and continue to whip until mixture just reaches stiff peaks. Do not over-whip or mascarpone can become grainy. 
  5. Fold in the Griff’s Coffee Toffee crunchy bits until it is evenly dispersed in the cream.

For the Espresso Dip

  1. In a shallow dish, mix the cold espresso or strong coffee with the coffee liqueur.

To Assemble and Finish

  1. Working with no more than 2 or 3 lady fingers at a time, briefly dip both sides of the cookies into the coffee mixture. Layer them closely together in a 7″ x 11″ glass dish. Continue dipping and placing until you fill the bottom of the dish in a single layer.
  2. Scoop about 1/3 of the coffee toffee cream onto the lady fingers and spread evenly and smoothly.
  3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 twice more, ending with the last third of the cream. You’ll have three layers each of lady fingers and cream. The 7 x 11 dish will be completely full.
  4. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the cream and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours.
  5. Right before serving, carefully peel off plastic wrap. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder into a fine mesh strainer, and evenly and generously dust the top of the tiramisu. If you would like you can use any stencil you have to create a pattern on top of your tiramisu. I used a heart template I cut out of cardboard and an Exacto knife to cut the design into a cake box. You could also use thick card stock.
  6. Slice and serve. Note that tiramisu is a soft dessert, so much as with pie, the first piece or two might not come beautifully out of the dish. But after those first 2, you should be able to get nice, clean slices. If you are feeling spunky, wipe your knife clean between cuts to achieve the neatest look.

Recipe courtesy of Jenni Field of Pastry Chef Online
Serves 12 | Prep time: 20 min