Ingredients
- 3 egg yolks
- 1/4 cup whole milk
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 cups mascarpone cheese (this is an Italian cream cheese)
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 20 – 24 lady fingers
- 1/4 cup cold espresso
- 1/4 cup Kahlua coffee liqueur
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
Instructions
- Fill a medium saucepan halfway with water and bring it to a boil over medium/high heat, then reduce heat so that the water is simmering.
- Whisk egg yolks, milk and sugar together in a medium metal bowl, then place the bowl on top of the saucepan (you can also use a double boiler for this step).
- Stir the mixture often for ten minutes. After the sugar dissolves the mixture should begin to thicken and turn light yellow. Remove it from the heat to cool.
- Use an electric mixer to combine mascarpone, cream cheese and vanilla in a large bowl. Mix until mostly creamy, but with a few small chunks remaining.
- Add egg yolk mixture to the cheese mixture and mix just until well-combined.
- Combine espresso and Kahlua in a small bowl. Pour this mixture onto a dinner plate.
- One-by-one touch the bottom of each lady finger in the espresso. The lady finger will quickly soak up the espresso/Kahlua mixture, but you don’t want the lady finger soaked — just a dab will do ya. The top half of each lady finger should still be dry.
- Arrange the soaked lady fingers side-by-side on the bottom of an 8×8-inch serving dish or baking pan.
- Spoon about half of the cheese mixture over the lady fingers, then add another layer of soaked lady fingers on top of the cheese mixture.
- Spoon the remaining cheese mixture over the second layer of lady fingers and spread it evenly.
- Put two teaspoons of cocoa powder in a tight-mesh strainer and gently tap the side of the strainer to add an even dusting of cocoa powder over the top of the dessert.
- Cover and chill for several hours.
- To serve, slice the dessert twice across and down creating 9 even portions (the first serving is always the hardest to get out).