Tiramisu - Creampuff Style :)

Hello! It's been a week again.. I promised to post more often and I put nothing up for a week. Go me. *sigh* I just finished up the week from hell. Seriously. I couldn't have posted if I wanted to as I was no where near my PC for most of that time. Instead, I was following ambulances to the hospital. Now that's a lot of fun.. they ask you to not follow close behind, so you make a conscious effort to stay back yet you are soiling your shorts because you want to get there the second the ambulance does. I mean, how the hell would the ER docs know what to do if I weren't there?? Yeah, I'm one of those people.. I gotta know everything that's going on and I gotta be there for it all. How freakin annoying am I? I actually just got done writing out the whole fakkin story about my mom and her 3 trips, 2 of which were via ambulance, to the ER (the first of those trips happened 1.5 hours after we brought her home from her first 4 day stay in the hospital.. the 2nd ambulance ride was after she was home for roughly 15 hours.) and realized that ya'll don't wanna sit at your PCs/lap tops for HOURS reading about my grief. Suffice to say.. after 2 unblocked arteries and stent placements, severe lower back spasms and COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) with a dash of pneumonia, she's home now. She is back on oxygen 24/7, but that's okay. Now we wait a month. Why? Because if all of that just wasn't enough to deal with all at once, they also found a "nodule" on her left lung. A biopsy was scheduled for last Friday, but it was found that the "nodule" is to small for even a needle biopsy. Therefore we wait a month for a new CAT scan to see if it's grown and then either a possible PET scan and/or biopsy. I refuse to get frazzled/panicked over this. It could be one of a 1,000 things. It's on the very lower tip of her left lung, suggesting this could be a case of collapsed lung. It could also be a bruise brought on by the pneumonia - or even from her fall back in February. So ya'll keep your fingers and toes crossed.. and a few prayers couldn't hurt either, right? =) Now enough. Let's move on to something so much more happier, shall we? About a month ago, I got it into my head that I needed to make Tiramisu. I've never made it before, because I'm not a huge fan. I've only ever had it from a bakery and once at a restaurant and never did it thrill me. Go figure. But I saw these adorable Lady Fingers at the Trader Joe's while last minute shopping while Helene was still here and just had to buy them. I mentioned to my sweet Ivonne that I wanted to make it and her response was to send me her family's recipe for it. How damn lucky am I?? :D Talk about having the perfect recipe for my first go at it! Once I had all my ingredients out and at room temp, I started the recipe.. which was to mix the sugar and eggs together until they were pale and thick. No problem (I love you, my sexy KitchenAid!).. next, add the mascarpone & cream all at once and beat until smooth and thick. Uhhh.. she's not smooth. And she ain't thick neither. Uhhh.. *panic* "Yes, operator? Get me the Creampuff in Canada STAT" ring ring ring.. ring ring ringgggggggg "Hi! You've reached the Creampuff! I'm not home! So sorry about your luck and your coagulated eggs & cheese!! MUAHAHAHAA!" *sob* "Yes, operator? Get me my Guru in S. Carolina STAT STAT!" ring ring ring.. ring ring ringgggggggg "Hi, You've reached your Guru! I'm not home! So sorry about your luck and your icky eggie cheesy disaster! MUAHAHAHAHAAA!" ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I uncracked the bottle of Jack and had myself a couple fingers worth. ;) By that time my phone rings and HALLEY-LOO-YA it was my Guru, bless her cotton socks! She advised me that I should keep beating it until it starts to smooth out and then put it through a fine sieve and I should be fine. It wouldn't end up completely smooth, but it also wouldn't have the consistency of spoiled milk. *buuickkk* And so I did, although I did change from the paddle to the whisk attachment, and sure enough, after 10 min. or so, it did start to come together and by the time I pushed it through the sieve, I had a semi-smooth mascarpone mixture. Phew! Disaster avoided once again thanks to my Guru. :D After that, it was a cinch to put together, pretty much.. I did read the instructions wrong (surprise!) and only used 2 c. of espresso (recipe called for 4) to 1 TBS. sugar and 2 TBS. of Marsala - so my lil lady fingers were ROCKIN' if'n ya'll know what I mean? Zinggggg! Now for the life of me I can not remember why I did not take any photos of the whole thing, quite possibly they came out all blurry? I dunno.. but anyhoo, it was gorgeous. Of course I had to make it even more sinfully delicious by adding 2 GENEROUS layers of grated dark chocolate. ;) Where the photos make it look like it was grainy, it wasn't. It was very smooth and silky. This tiramisu wasn't too sweet, so the added chocolate was a match made in heaven. And the espresso/booze soaked cookies were good enough to eat by themselves. Which I might have done with the 5 left over cookies.. maybe. *blush* The true test would be 2 nights later when I had some friends over for my 40th (gag) birthday party. One of my guests is a Tiramisu connoisseur and he promised to tell me the truth. He took a bite, his eyes rolled back into his head and I swear he started pulsating. Orgasmically like.. I shite you not. Yep! This Tiramisu made him a very happy camper. Yay! Thank you SO MUCH, Ivonne! Not only have I learned what to do when my eggs and mascarpone curdle, but I am now a huge lover of Tiramisu. I've already got my mascarpone in the fridge and can not wait to get my hands on those lady fingers again.. soon.. oh yesss... soon. I think the Tiramisu would look lovely sitting next to Gracie's Croissant Bread Pudding on our Christmas dessert table, don't you? squeeeeee!!! This is a Creampuff recipe and not mine to share. So I guess ya'll are going to have to come to my house this Xmas for a slice, yes? =) Not only did My Sweet Creampuff give me this awesome recipe, but she also sent me the gorgeous napkins you see in the photo as part of my birthday present. =) xoxo