Tiramisu, How Divine Are You!

Grocery Store Challenge, Week 1, Part 2

As the idea for this challenge began to formulate in my addled brain, standing there in the cheese section of the grocery store late Monday night, I spied an inconspicuous short, fat container that sealed the deal: BelGioioso Tiramisu Mascarpone Cheese: A Sophisticated Dessert Cheese Made With Real Coffee. Mmmm… tiramisu.

I almost never eat tiramisu, though it’s not for lack of desire. Hubby is not a fan of coffee so that means that unless I want to eat any coffee creations in their entirety, I should not make them–so I don’t. I’m a bit of a glutton, but even I have limits! Tiramisu has therefore been relegated to a special restaurant treat only very occasionally enjoyed. In fact, I don’t even recall the last time that I had it.

But tiramisu has been on my mind. A couple weeks ago, I had two friends request recipes for it and as silly as it sounds, I felt a little bit like a failure that I had no tried and true recipe to refer them to. I promised that I would try to make some soon for the sake of the blog, if nothing else, but I hadn’t gotten around to it yet. Hey! I’m a busy woman!

That’s where this lovely discovery comes in. After I put the Tiramisu Mascarpone Cheese in the grocery cart, I attempted to work out different scenarios for using it with minimal effort. On toast? No way. Graham crackers? Maybe, but I couldn’t find any I liked. Cookies? Not really. All I could justify in the end were lady fingers–how unoriginal. Still, I purchased them.

If I was going to smear this coffee’d cheese on lady fingers, I may as well try to make it like the real deal. So I split the lady fingers down the middle and made my little tower: lady fingers, cheese, lady fingers, cheese, lady fingers, cheese, lady fingers, Cool Whip. Yeah, I’m not proud of that last part but again, the focus was on maximum enjoyment with minimal effort. I would have preferred real whipped cream but that would have resulted in more dishes to wash. Bah! A sprinkle of cocoa on the top and there ya have it–fake tiramisu.

You know what? It’s really not bad. Really! It’s not the same–the lady fingers haven’t soaked up the coffee and cheese essence, obviously–but it’s a more than adequate substitute when you’re the only one in the house who enjoys that treat. I could definitely see myself whipping this together again when I have a craving that must be satisfied. What a time saver!

As for the cheese itself, I think I may try it on cinnamon raisin bagels next… Going to live a little!