Tiramisu

This is my favorite dessert ever. The first time I had it was at an Italian restaurant called Biaggi's located in Maple Grove Mn. It was SO GOOD! A typical Tiramisu is espresso-soaked lady fingers, layered with a sweet cream and mascarpone cheese, topped with a rich sweetened cocoa powder. Rich, but not too rich, creamy, full of coffee flavor, a pinch of chocolate, and simply perfect. From that point on, I ordered it from every restaurant that offered it, and found there to be quite a variation on what you get depending on where you are. I have to say the best place I have had Tiramisu at was at Disney World. We were at Epcot, in the Italy Pavillion and there was a little bake/coffee shop that had it featured as a dessert. We were with my parents so we ordered two, and shared. From that point on, I was on the hunt for a Tiramisu recipe that was easy to make, and tasted great. This one uses ingredients that you can find anywhere, very simple. Not so "authentic," however tastes amazing. There is no ricotta or egg yolk in this recipe, it's a no cook recipe as well. Very simple, very good. One bite, and you'll be hooked.

Tiramisu

2 loaves of Sara Lee pound cake, thinly sliced
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 large box of instant vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups cold milk
1 1/2 cups strongly brewed coffee, cooled
1/2 cup Ghiradelli Sweetened Ground Cocoa (You can sub 1/4 cup cocoa powder mixed with 1/4 cup of powder sugar.)

1. Mix together pudding and milk. Whisk together and let set in fridge while you prepare the cream.
2. For the cream, mix together heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat on high speed until cream is very stiff.
3. Fold the vanilla pudding into the heavy cream mixture.

4. Place 1/3 of the pound cake slices in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan.
5. Drizzle with 1/3 of the coffee.
6. Spread 1/3 of the vanilla cream on top of the the coffee soaked cake.
7. Repeat layers twice, creating a total of three layers of everything.

8. Sift the Sweetened Ground Chocolate on top of the whole dish.