Recipes: Philly Tap Finder’s Kristy’s BEER-amisu

Philly Tap Finder‘s Jared Littman:  My wife Kristy recently made a tiramisu with beer. It was awesome. Enjoy my wife Kristy’s BEER-amisu!

NOTE FROM KRISTY:  Make this 1 or 2 days ahead to maximize flavor. I like to make this in a 9-inch springform pan and then use halved strawberries around the outside to garnish.  A square or rectangular pan would work well, too.

Philly Tap Finder’s Kristy’s BEER-amisu

Servings:  8 servings

Ingredients:

• 6 eggs yolks
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup milk
• 1 ¼ cup heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 pound mascarpone cheese
• ½ cup strong brewed coffee (sweetened with 2 Tablespoons white sugar)
• 1 stout or porter, reduced down to a syrup consistency (approx. 4 Tablespoons) NOTE: I used Duck Rabbit Milk Stout, but any stout or porter beer will work. Just stay away from anything hoppy.
• 6 ounces of ladyfingers (prepackaged or see below for recipe to make your own)
• 1 Tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¾ cup shaved dark chocolate

Instructions:

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least one hour.
2. In a medium bowl, beat cream with vanilla until stiff peaks form. Whisk mascarpone into yolk mixture until smooth.
3. In a small bowl, combine coffee and reduced beer. Lay ladyfingers flat in a pan and drizzle with coffee mixture.
4. Arrange half of soaked ladyfingers in bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers, then half of whipped cream over that. Repeat layers. Cover and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours, until set.
5. Before serving, sprinkle cocoa powder over top of cake. Then spread dark chocolate shavings over the cocoa powder.

Homemade Ladyfingers (Optional)

Servings:  6 ounces of ladyfingers

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three jelly roll pans with parchment paper. Prepare a pastry bag with a ½ inch tip.
2. Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg yolks with half of the sugar and all of the vanilla. Beat until very light colored (approx. 5 minutes).
3. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While beating, slowly add the salt and the remaining sugar until combined. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in.
5. Fill the pastry bag with half of the batter and pipe 3 ½ inch fingers, 1 ½ inches apart, in rows on the parchment paper. Continue with the second half of the batter in the same manner.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for about 7 to 10 minutes until firm to the touch and golden. Remove the paper and fingers from the baking sheet and place on racks to cool. After cooling, remove fingers from the paper and use, or store between layers of wax paper in an airtight container.