Tiramisu with cream cheese and custard sweetened by stevia

Tiramisu is probably one of my favorite desserts for a special occasion. Hope this recipe won’t offend Italian people. It’s difficult to find mascarpone cheese at local grocery stores in Kentucky (or anywhere in Japan), and if they sell one, it’s kind of pricey. So I searched alternative recipes online and learned that some people used cream cheese instead. I tweaked this Japanese recipe by replacing fresh egg yokes with custard (well, because I’ve been advised not to eat raw eggs in the United States), and as usual, almost all sugar with pure stevia powder. If I could not find ladyfingers at local grocery stores, I would use Marie biscuits as they were called for in the original recipe. (They are usually sold in Indian grocery stores in the U.S.) Graham crackers might work, too. (Photo by bodhilens)

Ingredients (for one 8 inch x 8 inch x 2 inch Pyrex square baking dish):

Custard (100 ml or about a half cup of milk, 1 TBSP of flour or cornstarch, 2 egg yolks, and 1 tsp of rum or vanilla essence, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia)

1 pack of cream cheese (200-250g)

200-250 ml (about a half pint) of heavy cream, sweetened by 3 smidgens of stevia

24 pieces (or more) of ladyfingers

2 TBSP of instant coffee dissolved in 7 TBSP of hot water (or espresso) sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 3 smidgens of stevia

1 TBSP of unsweetened cocoa powder sweetened by 1 TBSP of sucanat (or sugar) and 1 smidgen of stevia

Directions:

1. Make custard. If you go for a conventional way, put flour in a sauce pan, turn on low heat, slowly pour milk and whisk until flour is completely dissolved in milk, slowly pour beaten egg yolks while whisking the mixture, and continue to whisk the mixture until it thickens. (If you go for a convenient way, dissolve flour in milk and beaten egg yolks in a microwave safe bowl, heat the mixture in a microwave for a minute, take it out and whisk it, heat it again for another minute, and continue the procedure until the mixture thickens.) Add rum or vanilla essence and stevia. Let custard cool.

2. Make coffee. Add sucanat and stevia.

3. Whip cream cheese in a bowl.

4. Whip heavy cream in another bowl. Add stevia.

5. Make cream mixture. Add #1 to #2 and whip a bit. Add #3 to the mixture and whip a bit again.

6. Place a half of lady fingers in a baking dish. Pour a half of #2 sweetened coffee over.

7. Spread a half of #5 cream mixture on the layer of lady fingers soaked in sweetened coffee.

8. Place the rest of lady fingers on the layer of cream mixture. Pour the rest of sweetened coffee over.

9. Spread the rest of cream mixture on top.

10. Cool tiramisu in a fridge for an hour or longer. (In the meantime, you can wash a pile of dishes in your sink.)

11. Mix cocoa powder, sucanat, and stevia. Sprinkle the mixture over tiramisu with a strainer. Let tiramisu rest in the fridge for a while. It tastes even better next day.