June is Italian Heritage month. Being of Italian Heritage myself, (my parents were born in beautiful Calabria), I am always excited to take part in events that celebrate my heritage that I am so proud of. This year, I was so honoured that the CIBPA (Canadian Italian Business & Professional Association of Toronto) asked Irene and I to participate in the Annual CIBPA Master Chef Event at the beautiful Casa Loma in Toronto. As soon as we heard the news that we would be participating, Irene and I started planning for our feature dish. We prepared a deconstructed cannoli last year at the event (Click here for last year’s recipe). This year, we decided to do a dessert again and we chose a tiramisu truffle (Shout out to the blog name 😉 Cataldi Fresh Market in Woodbridge, an amazing Italian grocer, graciously sponsored the ingredients for our dish.
The event was host to a number of Italian businesses who were there to show off their best dishes and Italian food products. We had the pleasure of spending the evening with many established Italian business owners, cookbook authors, chefs and restaurateurs. We were humbled, to say the least, to be a part of this amazing event with such a talented group of people who play such a large part of the Italian food community in Toronto and the GTA.
The Board of Directors also surprised Irene and I with a certificate making us official honourary Members of the CIPBA Toronto Chapter! My certificate hangs proudly in my office.
This recipe is dreamy. We wanted to stay true to the traditional tiramisu so we soaked the traditional savoiardi cookies (lady finger cookies) in brewed espresso coffee. There is also Mascarpone cheese incorporated in the ganache mixture staying true to the traditional filling of a tiramisu. We finished our truffles with cocoa powder which gave this dessert a true tiramisu flavour: Bittersweet cocoa, creamy and decadent mascarpone and chocolate centre with hints of savoiardi cookie soaked in espresso coffee. You can also add a tablespoon of Kahlua or sweet Marsala wine to the coffee and cookie crumb mixture to add a hint of liqueur flavour to these truffles. In fact, I highly recommend this addition!
Tiramisu is my favourite dessert, as you probably guessed, so if you’re a fan of the dessert as well then you need to try these truffles! You will love them!
Baci e abbracci,
Julie
Tiramisu Truffles
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 1 dozen 1x
Description
The ganache needs to set in the refrigerator for at least an hour before you can roll your truffles so please factor in this time.
Ingredients
- 8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 3 tbsp mascarpone cheese
- 1 cup lady finger cookies (savoiardi cookies), crumbled
- 3 tbsp brewed espresso coffee
Instructions
- Make the cookie mixture: In a large bowl, mix the crumbled cookies with the brewed espresso coffee and set aside.
- Make the ganache: In a double broiler, melt the chocolate with the mascarpone cheese and heavy cream and stir with a spatula. Try not to stir too much as you don’t want to put a lot of air in the mixture. Once the chocolate has melted, take off the heat and give it one soft stir to ensure the cheese is melted and incorporated.
- Mix the cookie and chocolate mixture together and then refrigerate until firm enough to roll the mixture into truffle balls (about 1 hour).
- Prepare the truffles: Remove from refrigerator and use your hands to roll 1 inch truffles. Roll the truffle balls in cocoa powder. Keep refrigerated. Remove from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving to allow the truffles to become slightly soft.
- Prep Time: 30 mins
