Raspberry and Amaretto Tiramisu

A few weeks ago, during one of my usual browses of Food Gawker.com I spotted an amazing looking recipe for a Raspberry Tiramisu. Attention grabbed, I excitedly clicked, sweaty-pawed on the link, only to discover that the recipe was written in POLISH! ...I could just about understand the taunting line that read "To tiramisu jest fenomenalne!" but that was about it! Grr!

However, I really couldn't stop thinking about what a treat a delicious raspberry tiramisu would have been, so in the end I decided to make my own one up. I had a look the recipe for traditional tiramisu in my Jamie's Italy book as well as a few recipes on Google then thought how I could transform the boring old ordinary tiramisu into a raspberry delight.

I remembered that we had the majority of a bottle of amaretto left over from when I made amaretto cupcakes and, as I love amaretto, I thought to myself "Does amaretto go with raspberries?"... I decided that seeing as cranberry juice and amaretto is such an ace drink, and that rapberries and cranberries are often partnered, raspberries and amaretto could indeed be a winning combo.

I also decided to try out making the tiramisu topping using ricotta instead of the usual mascarpone I've always used in the past to save on a few calories, as per a Gino D'Acampo recipe I found that sounded yummy.

The crunch time came this weekend when my mum was coming to stay so I made the tiramisu on Friday night for us to eat on Saturday.

It was so easy to make and really quick - I honestly think it took me less than 10 minutes to assemble the whole thing.

I definitely think it should be made in a glass bowl too as it looks so pretty all layered, like a trifle!

The result was a really yummy, super sweet, rather boozy tiramisu with delicious juicy amaretto-infused raspberries and a lovely, fresh ricotta topping. I think this is more of a girly dessert as Bailey complained it was very sweet and amarettoey (yes? Isn't that a good thing?), so I will definitely be playing around with this recipe trying out different fruits and liqeurs and trying to find other lovely flavour combinations and maybe some slightly more boy-friendly ones! Yum yum!

Recipe:
2 punnets of raspberries
100ml of amaretto
8 boudoir fingers
A 250g tub of ricotta cheese
A 200g tub of Greek yogurt
A capful of vanilla essence
Splenda, or caster sugar if you prefer

Ideally make the tiramisu the night before you plan to eat it so it gets all yummy and the flavours infuse. Put a punnet and a half of the raspberries into a bowl and pour the amaretto in with them and allow to soak while you sort the rest of the ingredients out. 

Mix the ricotta and Greek yogurt together in a bowl and add the vanilla essence. Try the mix, and sweeten to your taste, but it shouldn't really be super sweet. Jamie Oliver adds about 4 tablespoons of sugar to his tiramisu topping.

Take the soaked raspberries and place them, top down, to the bottom of your tiramisu dish in neat, concentric circles. 

Dip the boudoir fingers in the amaretto / raspberry liquid and allow them to soak it up.

Arrange the soaked boudoir fingers on top of the raspberries.

Pour any remaining amaretto liquid evenly over the boudoir fingers and raspberries, before topping with the ricotta topping.

Once the ricotta topping is all on, smooth it out neatly.

Decorate the top of the tiramisu with the remaining raspberries.

Cover and place in the fridge to set for at least a good few hours before serving! Amarettoey goodness!