Maya made this for Christmas Lunch and it was one of the most delicious desserts I’ve ever eaten. Light, lemony and not too sweet, and so pretty. I asked Maya for her recipe and here it is:

Ingredients

For lemon curd:

¾ cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
¾ cup sugar
3 eggs
½ cup unsalted butter, cubed

For filling:

6 egg yolks
¾ cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 ounce mascarpone (at room temperature)
1 cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt

For Ladyfinger “Dip”

1 Tablespoon of Grand Marnier Liquor
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup water
Ladyfingers (2 packages)

Step 1: Take Mascarpone Cheese out of fridge (it should be room temperature by the time you mix it in)

Step 2: Make Lemon Curd. Add lemon curd ingredients to a sauce pan and bring just to a simmer on medium-low heat, whisking often until mixture thickens, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. (Maya put some in a ziploc bag and piped it on the top.)

Step 3: Make Tiramisu Filling

In a medium saucepan, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Boil gently for 1 minute, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Once cooled (about 10 minutes) add 1 package of room temperature mascarpone cheese (4 ounces). Mix this until totally combined.

Next, whip up your whipping cream until soft peaks form, then add vanilla extract and salt. Gently fold this whipped cream with the mascarpone mixture; the consistency in the end should be kind of a light pudding.

Step 4: Make the ladyfinger dip. Combine Grand Marnier, lemon juice, and water in a shallow bowl that you can use to dip the ladyfingers in. Feel free to play with the ratios if you want your tiramisu more lemon-y. (If you can’t get ladyfingers, you can substitute sponge cake or pound cake cut into strips and baked for 10 minutes or so until they’re a little firmer.)

Step 5: Assembly

In a medium serving dish, you’ll start the layering. Dip some of your ladyfingers in the lemon dip, (they should be wet, but not soaked) and line the serving dish. Layer some of the mascarpone/whipped cream pudding on top of the ladyfingers (assuming three layers, use about a third of the mixture). Dot on some lemon curd, about 2 tablespoons. Repeat the dipping, placing, and layering until you’ve used up most of your ladyfingers and the mascarpone/whipped cream pudding; then drizzle with lemon curd. You probably will have lemon curd left over, if you make a whole batch of curd.

That’s it! Beautiful and lemon-ny, this adjusted tiramisu is a lot of work, but totally worth it!!