Tiramisù-flavour Spread

aka: Coffee, Marsala All’Uovo & Cocoa Spread

When I recently made lemon cheese, I decided to have a go at some different flavours next.  I first thought to make a Marsala one, but then thought I’d take it one step further and make a Tiramisù Cheese (spread) instead, using coffee and cocoa in addition to the Marsala all’Uovo.

Marsala All’Uovo is a fortified wine (Marsala) that is already quite sweet and tastes similar to port or sherry; the “all’uovo” variety has had egg added to it for extra richness and it is this wine/liqueur that gives authentic Tiramisù (along with the other ingredients, of course) its unique flavour.  If you can’t get any, you can use a different liqueur, e.g. Tia Maria or similar, though the flavour won’t be quite as Italian or reminiscent of authentic Tiramisù.

Ingredients (for approx. 3 x 350ml jars):

• 3 ‘long’ espressos (3 x 60 ml, i.e. 180ml espresso, freshly made) – you could substitute with the same quantity of good quality strong filter coffee if you don’t have an espresso machine
• 120ml Marsala all’Uovo
• 2tsp cocoa powder
• 1.5tsp cornflour
• 350g caster sugar
• 225g unsalted butter, chopped into chunks and left to soften at room temperature before use
• 4 large free-range eggs

Method:

Gently whisk the eggs in a pan, then add the other ingredients and whisk with a balloon whisk over a medium heat for approx. 7 minutes.  As the mixture heats up, it will start to thicken. Make sure you keep whisking and that you cover the entire pan area with your whisk so you don’t burn the cheese and it doesn’t go lumpy.

Turn the heat down and keep whisking for another minute or so.  The finished mixture will be thick but still quite runny; bear in mind it will thicken as it cools down but if you prefer a thicker mixture, cook and whisk a bit longer.

Pour into sterilised glass jars (I put my jars through the dishwasher, then sterilise them in a cold water sterilising solution), place a greaseproof paper disc over the top, close the lid and refrigerate immediately.  Wait until the jars are cold before affixing labels.

Enjoy spread onto hot toast or, if you’re anything like my family members, eat with a spoon!

Gloriously Simple, Gloriously Good!