Tiramisu Recipe

I was really bored the other day and wanted to try my hands on making some desserts, mind you, I actually suck at baking. If you follow my Instagram, you would've seen the disaster that was me trying to make macarons and chiffon cake. So anyway, I started searching for the best tiramisu recipe on the Internet to see if I could pull it off. After my second try, my mom finally gave her seal of approval - the first one was too soggy and the coffee wasn't thick enough.

I got my recipe off taste.com.au as usual and adapted to our liking with my mom's friend's recipe. And don't worry, it won't take you more than an hour to prepare, I promise!

Tiramisu (serves 8)

Ingredients:

For the coffee mixture:

4 heaping tsps of Nescafé coffee powder

4 tsps of caster sugar

1 tsp of vanilla essence

1.5/375ml cups of hot water

A few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto (optional)

For the mascarpone mixture: 

3 eggs, separated 

1/3 cup caster sugar

250g mascarpone cheese

300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped

~25 sponge fingers (2 packets, depending on how closely you're laying them later on

Van Houten cocoa powder

Directions:

1. Mix the first four ingredients for the coffee mixture in a shallow dish or a large bowl. 

2. Add in a few drops of coffee liqueur/Kahlua/Amaretto and chill in the fridge while you proceed to making your mascarpone mixture. 

If you want to make a child-friendly version, don't add in the coffee liqueur. Alternatively, I've read that you can swap the alcohol for orange juice but I haven't tried it out myself, so don't take my word for it. 

3. In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sugar using electric beaters until pale and thick. Then, add in your mascarpone cheese and stir until well combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream until combined. 

I'm not too sure what'll happen if I stirred the whipped cream with too much force but considering that I did have to beat air into it, I didn't want to take any chances. 

4. Whip your egg whites until soft peaks form. I think I went a bit overboard but the mixture still turned out alright. Gently fold your egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. Folding in too vigorously may cause the mixture to deflate. 

I forgot to take a photo of how the egg yolks should look but if you enlarge the first photo in the collage, you'll be able to see the desired colour and consistency - pale and thick.

5. Dip the lady fingers into your coffee mixture but don't dip for too long or it'll become soggy!

Remember, once you chill it overnight, the lady fingers will continue to absorb moisture.

6. Arrange the lady fingers in a dish and then top it with a generous layer of mascarpone cheese. Finally, sift the cocoa powder over the mascarpone mixture and repeat. I made 2 layers but you can opt for more.

This recipe should be able to fill a 19cm square dish. Alternatively, you can put them into a few dishes/containers like I did. Be careful not to layer your tiramisu to the brim, or you won't be able to cover your container later. You must cover the container, otherwise, your tiramisu will dry out.

7. Cover the container with cling wrap or the cover that came with your container. Refrigerate and chill overnight.

This dish is best served two days after preparation, so hang in there!

You can opt to sprinkle the final layer of cocoa powder when you want to eat it but I prefer to let it set together with the rest of the tiramisu just because I don't want to choke on any dried cocoa powder.

Obviously I ran out of the mascarpone mixture until the very end and this was the product. 

Linguine Carbonara Without Cream

For some reason, every time I come back on holiday, my dad will ask me to make this dish. Probably because he thinks it's good.

And don't worry, it's easy. Sort of. Let's just say I spent more than an hour trying to cook this the first time I tried it out and it was the first time I cooked an entire meal by myself. Thankfully, it turned out beautiful.

This recipe has been tried and true so I'm pretty sure it'll work, even if you don't have much cooking experience.

The ingredients. Yeah I cheated. I didn't make my own pasta.

Linguine Carbonara Without Cream Recipe (Serves 4) 
You'll need:
~400g pasta of your choice, try to avoid using angel hair and definitely avoid shaped pasta or short cut pasta
~1.5 eggs, depending on how saucy you want it to be and how much noodles you've used
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated. Add more if you like it more cheesy, but remember, it's salty. And yes, I was just making do with whatever I had in the fridge - pizza cheese.
2 purple onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 strips of bacon, 1 cm strips
1 1/2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1/2 cup olive oil

Directions:
1. Place the bacon in a pan over low heat, and cook them until all the fat is released.

2. Bring to boil a pot of water, about half-full, and season it with salt. You can add in olive oil at this stage, but I've heard that its not necessary. Once the water is boiling, add in the pasta noodles of your choice. Cook until al dente and strain. Save up about a bowl of the pasta stock for later. Remember: do not run your pasta under cold water. Drizzle some olive oil over the pasta and stir to prevent the noodles from sticking.

3. In a bowl, beat the eggs and half a cup of parmesan cheese until well-combined. Set aside.

4. Remove the cooked bacon from the pan and and some olive oil to the pan and cook the sliced onions on low heat until tender. Add in the chopped garlic about now and continue cooking under low heat until you smell the fragrance of the chopped garlic.

5. Now, add in the pasta noodles and the cooked bacon to the pan with the onions and garlic and combine well.

6. Kill the heat and pour the egg and cheese mixture. Stir to combine.

7. Garnish with the remaining parmesan cheese and some chopped parsley. Serve immediately.

Two-ingredient Pizza

So I stumbled upon this recipe on Buzzfeed.com and I decided to give it a go. It's super easy and it only takes two ingredients. However, every compromise comes with its fair share of downsides. The pizza crust will definitely not be thin and light like most pizza crusts we have come to know and love. It will end up being a bit chewy but yummy, nonetheless. Because the dough is very heavy, it can easily serve 6-8 people.

Pepperoni Pizza Margherita (serves 6-8)

Crust:

Adapted from kidspot.com.au

1 cup Greek yoghurt or natural yoghurt
1 cup self-raising flour
Dried herbs (eg. oregano, parsley), to taste
Extra flour for dusting the board

Toppings:
1 tube pepperoni, thinly sliced
125g mozarella cheese
2-3 tomatoes
25g basil
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste

1. Preheat your oven at 220C.

2. Place greek yoghurt into a bowl and gradually add in self-raising flour while mixing. You don't need a mixer for this and you can just use your hands. Bring together to form a ball. If the dough is still wet, continue to add flour until it becomes stretchy. Be careful not to add too much flour because it will reduce the elasticity of the dough. I think I added like up to 200g more than the required amount for some reason. Some recipes called for a 2:1 flour to yoghurt ratio while this one calls for a 1:1 ratio. So don't be afraid to add more flour if you need to.

2. Sprinkle in some dried herbs to taste

3. Knead the dough on a well-floured board for 5-8 minutes. Roll into a pizza shape and add toppings.

4. Bake your pizza for 20-30 minutes or until the crust becomes golden brown and your cheese is melted.

Tadaa! (: