Dessert / Main: Tira Mi Su

From Shelly Carey
Note: This is one of our family's favorite desserts. In Italian, "tira mi su" means "pick me up".

Ingredients:
6 large egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 lb Mascarpone cheese (or 16 ounces cream cheese - I use cream cheese)
1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 packages plain ladyfingers (packages are 3 ounces each)
¼ cup cold, very strong coffee (or more than 1/4 cup)
1 Tablespoon water (or 2 Tablespoons rum, if preferred)
2 Tablespoon baking cocoa

Directions:
Beat egg yolks and sugar in saucepan, with a wire whisk until well blended. Beat in milk. Heat to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Reduce to low. Boil and stir one minute. Remove from heat. Place plastic wrap directly on mixture and refrigerate one hour.

Mix egg yolk mixture and cheese with whisk until smooth. Beat cream and vanilla together until stiff.

Separate and arrange ladyfingers into one layer in a baking dish. Drizzle ladyfingers generously with the prepared coffee. Spread half of cheese mixture over ladyfingers. Spread half of whipped cream over ladyfingers. Sprinkle cocoa over layer. Repeat layers. Sprinkle the top surface with cocoa. Refrigerate four to six hours to set.

Note: I like to be generous with the amount of coffee that I put on each of the ladyfingers. The ladyfingers end up more soaked than not, when I make this recipe… Enjoy!