A weekend dessert, this time dressed up for Halloween 👻🎃 Pumpkin tiramisu! Coffee-dipped ladyfingers, pumpkin and mascarpone cream, a little cinnamon, and a white chocolate spiderweb on top.
Pumpkin and mascarpone cream
The cream follows a simple ratio: one part pumpkin purée to one part mascarpone. I don’t add eggs to the cream. From there, it’s familiar tiramisu territory: dip the biscuits in coffee and build your layers.
I dice the pumpkin and boil it until tender. You can add a few cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick to the cooking water for extra fragrance. Once cooked, I drain the pumpkin well, blend it until smooth and let it cool completely. Weigh the purée after cooking and draining, before mixing it with the mascarpone.
I also seasoned the purée with 1 tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar of Modena. I used Andrea Milano, traditionally made and aged slowly in barrels until thick, sweet and fragrant. Just the kind I wanted here.
I sweetened mine with icing sugar, but you can use another sugar too. Mix well so that no gritty crystals remain.
Cocoa and a Halloween spiderweb
Just before serving, I dust the tiramisu generously with good cocoa powder. Since this pumpkin version is for Halloween weekend, I also drew a spiderweb with melted white chocolate. Completely optional, but fun 😊
I used one bar of white chocolate for the web. I melted it in a bowl over hot steam, transferred it to a piping bag and drew the web. A food-safe bag with a tiny corner snipped off works too. The lines don’t need to be perfectly straight.
Wishing you a delicious weekend,
Lina 👻🎃👻
Pumpkin Tiramisu
Ingredients
- 500 g pumpkin purée cooked, well drained and cooled
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar of Modena I used Andrea Milano
- 500 g mascarpone
- 80 g icing sugar or another sugar
- 200 g Savoiardi ladyfingers
- 300 ml brewed coffee cooled
- ground cinnamon to taste
- a few cardamom pods optional, for the pumpkin cooking water
- 1 cinnamon stick optional, for the pumpkin cooking water
- good cocoa powder for a generous dusting just before serving
- 1 bar white chocolate optional, for the spiderweb
Instructions
- Peel and deseed the pumpkin, then cut it into cubes. Place in a saucepan, cover with water and boil until tender. If you like, add a few cardamom pods and a cinnamon stick to the water. Remove the spices, drain the pumpkin thoroughly and blend until smooth. Cool completely. Weigh out 500 g of the prepared purée.
- Brew 300 ml coffee and let it cool. Use the cooled coffee for dipping the biscuits.
- Stir 1 tbsp good balsamic vinegar of Modena into the cooled pumpkin purée. Mix with 500 g mascarpone and 80 g icing sugar until smooth. If using another sugar, stir until dissolved.
- Briefly dip the ladyfingers in the coffee and arrange a layer in the bottom of a serving dish. Spread over some cream and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Repeat the layers, finishing with cream.
- Cover and refrigerate until the biscuits soften and the cream firms up.
- Just before serving, use a sieve to dust the top generously with good cocoa powder.
- For the optional spiderweb, break the white chocolate into a dry, heatproof bowl. Melt over a saucepan of hot, steaming water without letting the bowl touch the water. Transfer to a piping bag or food-safe bag, snip off a tiny corner and draw a web over the cocoa-dusted dessert. Let the chocolate set. This Halloween decoration is entirely optional.
Those who tried the recipe say…
We’re waiting for the first approved cooking experiences for this recipe. Yours could be the first!