Pumpkin Tiramisu

It’s no secret that I love pumpkin.  When I found out Eric and I weren’t traveling home for Thanksgiving this year, I racked my brain trying to decide what dessert to make for Thanksgiving Day.  Normally, I would make a pumpkin pie or cheesecake, but there was no way I was about to do that for just the two of us.  We would have way too many leftovers, and having one of those in the house for too long would have been dangerous!  I have a hard time resisting anything with pumpkin, what can I say?  Looking through all the pumpkin recipes I have bookmarked, I came across one for tiramisu.  The recipe seemed simple enough to cut down, so that’s what I decided to make.

This tiramisu, like I mentioned in my 24×24 post, tastes similar to a pumpkin spice latte.  The original recipe did not have any espresso, but I decided to add some.  After all, I know I love the combination of pumpkin and espresso and figured it could only make this tiramisu better.  Plus, I love the espresso-soaked ladyfingers in traditional tiramisu.  This tiramisu turned out even better than I thought it would.  The pumpkin mixture is light and fluffy, and there’s just a hint of spice.  I actually prefer my pumpkin desserts with a bit more pumpkin spice and have reflected the changes in the recipe.  I had never tried amaretti cookies before making this, and I loved the crunch and almond flavor they added to this.  I used rum like the recipe called for, but I think this would also be great with Frangelico. Overall, this was a fantastic dessert.  It was simple to put together the night before and tasted fantastic after a heavy Thanksgiving meal.

Pumpkin Tiramisu
Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream, very cold
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup pumpkin purée
heaping 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
8 ladyfingers, halved crosswise
2 shots espresso (about 3 ounces)
1 teaspoon rum or Frangelico (optional)
4-5 amaretti cookies, crushed

Directions:
Combine heavy cream and sugar in a medium bowl. Beat mixture with a hand mixer, gradually increasing speed from low to medium-high, until stiff peaks form. Add mascarpone, pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice and continue beating until mixture is smooth. Set aside.

If using rum, mix into espresso. Quickly dunk four ladyfinger halves into the espresso mixture, placing two halves each into two small glasses. Top each with a small amount (about 1/6) of filling. Repeat process twice more, using three ladyfinger halves each time, to end up with three layers of ladyfingers and three layers of filling. Cover and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, top each tiramisu with crushed amaretti and serve immediately.

Makes 2 generous servings

Heavily adapted from Epicurious