Sweet Peach Tea Tiramisu

If you’ve been reading over the past couple of weeks you have probably noticed my recent crazy obsession with sweet tea.

And if you haven’t, then there you have it:  I’m currently obsessed with the stuff!  It’s kind of a yearly ritual:  start drinking hot tea and coffee in late September/early October and then around the beginning of April I turn to sweet black tea.  It’s heavenly!

 

Recently I’ve been loving it with peaches in it too (yes, real live peaches!), and when it came to making something sweet peach tea inspired I couldn’t un-think about tiramisu.  This one’s going to rock your face, I promise.

The thing is the marscapone makes all the difference in the world, and you really should use savoiardi cookies instead of the softer ladyfinger cookies that some stores sell.  Y’all, this is not the time to make your own ladyfingers.  Let the store do some of the work for you…you’ll appreciate it!

So basically we all know the traditional tiramisu (remember, it means “pick me up”!) – ladyfingers, espresso, rum, shaved chocolate, marscapone cheese, cocoa powder.  It’s my favorite non-lemon-bar dessert, and I could and would eat it every day if possible.  But we’re just playing a little game of switch up here with the sweet peach tea tiramisu by dipping the ladyfingers in tea and not espresso, adding some macerated peaches, and taking out the chocolate.

Now I know, I know, you don’t just take the chocolate away from someone.  We all love it.  It’s awesome.  Chocolate does reign supreme.  It’s true.

 

But I’m telling you, take a break from the chocolate for this and you won’t be disappointed.  Besides, you’ll just have more room in your diet for more chocolate later!  See?  Even Steven.

The real measure of success with this one?  Nate immediately said, “Wow sweetie, this was delicious” immediately after putting his spoon down.  Not that he doesn’t always tell me the stuff I make is good, but if it’s an immediately verbal reaction?  Well, let’s just say it’s JUST THAT GOOD.

SWEET PEACH TEA TIRAMISU

(based on this traditional tiramisu recipe)

• 3 cups black tea (full caffeine or decaf, your choice) sweetened slightly with sugar or stevia and cooled
• 2 8-oz containers marscapone cheese
• 5 eggs, divided
• 14 oz savoiardi cookies (firm ladyfingers, which I found on the cookie aisle at Whole Foods)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 5 peaches, washed and cut into bite-size chunks

First make the marscapone mixture:  Whisk the egg yolks with 1/4 cup of sugar until you obtain a creamy light mixture. Add the mascarpone to the egg mixture and whisk together well, making sure it’s free of lumps.  In a separate bowl, mix the egg whites, pinch of salt, and another 1/4 cup of sugar, until they reach a soft peaks consistency, then add them to the mascarpone mixture.  Mix the peaches with the final 1/4 cup of sugar (or, if they’re extremely ripe, you can eliminate the sugar here).  Dip the ladyfingers very quickly into the cooled tea mixture, then line the bottom of a 9×13 dish with them.  Top the bottom layer of cookies with 1/2 of the marscapone mixture.  Sprinkle with 1/2 of the peaches.  Make another layer of ladyfingers dipped in tea, then the other half of the marscapone, then the final layer of peaches.  If you have a few cookies left, crumble them on top.  Refrigerate for 3+ hours and then serve!

I’m telling you guys, perfect summer desserts will almost always include peaches…time to jump on that train!