Tiramisu: no baking required

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Chef Troy Gagliardo

"Chef Troy" Gagliardo hosts a weekly cooking segment called "Tuesdays with Troy" live every Tuesday on Fox News Rising from 7 to 9 am. He has made over 200 appearances on the show, showcasing over 600 of his original recipes. Troy has penned a cookbook called Seasonal Comfort featuring some of his favorite comfort food recipes. He enjoys teaching readers and viewers alike how to build their "cooking confidence" through his recipes and simple technique. He is a self-taught chef who learned early on the important of family and food, and the connection between both, from his parents and grandparents. Preserving his family food culture has become a mission in Chef Troy's life. He is a Lake Norman resident and past owner of two Mooresville restaurants. Contact him at cheftroy@windstream.net.

You might not think of tiramisu as being an easy-to-make dessert, but it really is, especially this version.

The most difficult thing about making this particular tiramisu is roasting the pumpkin. But since it is the holidays, if you need a little cheat, use canned pumpkin. Canned pumpkin will work just fine, but when given the time and opportunity try grill-roasting the pumpkin; it does a little something extra to the overall taste.

Sometimes going the extra mile is a good thing. But during this time of year, maybe not so much. Either way, give this a try and I guarantee that you will make this again and again. Here are some tips:

· To make the filling leave the cream cheese out at room temperature until soft, about an hour.
· Combine the softened cream cheese with sugar, amaretto creamer and pumpkin until smooth and you are ready to start assembling.
· When dipping the lady fingers, less is more. These light cookies are like super sponges and will continue to soak into and through the cookie after dipping.
· When the filling is ready, drop and roll the lady fingers quickly. Immediately remove from the coffee and place them in the dish.
· Top the with filling, smooth out corner to corner and repeat.
· When the tiramisu is completely put together place in the refrigerator overnight, or at least several hours. This will allow the cream cheese to set and for the lady fingers to slightly soften.

Once you have mastered the technique of putting this recipe together, try experimenting with different flavors. Bourbon and molasses is a combination that I have been doing for years and is still my go-to quickie dessert.

Roasted Pumpkin Amaretto Tiramisu

Makes 9 small servings or 6 large servings

Filling:
· 1 pound cream cheese, softened
· ½ cup granulated sugar
· 1/4 cup Amaretto-flavored creamer
·1 cup roasted pumpkin-see recipe, or canned

Lady Fingers:
· 24 lady fingers
· 2 cups Amaretto-flavored coffee, cold

Topping/garnish:
· Amaretto cookies, crushed
· Cocoa powder in a shaker to dust

Place the bowl of a stand-up mixer in the freezer for 15 minutes. Remove from freezer and add all of the ingredients for the fillings and mix until well incorporated, about 2 to 3 minutes. The filling should be smooth, light and fluffy.

Place the coffee in a flat bottom dish.

Take 12 lady fingers, one at a time, dip and roll quickly being careful not to over soak. Begin laying the soaked fingers flat in an 8" x 8" dish in one even layer.

Divide the filling in half. Place one half on top of the first layer of lady fingers. Smooth into a even layer, add some of the crushed Amaretto cookies on top of the filling.

Repeat by dipping and rolling the remaining lady fingers and place on top of the first layer. Top with the remaining half of the filling and smooth out flat. Place in the refrigerator overnight or for at least 2 hours.

Reserve the remaining coffee to garnish.

To serve, cut into 9 equal pieces. Remove by using a flat metal spatula. Dip into warm water, wipe dry and remove the first piece from the pan.

Drizzle a little of the reserved Amaretto coffee on a small plate, place one piece of the tiramisu in the middle of the plate, dust with cocoa powder, top with crushed Amaretto cookies and serve.

Pumpkin grill-roasting:

Preheat oven or grill to 350 degrees. To grill-roast: heat grill to medium heat for direct and indirect heat grilling.

Half pumpkin, scoop out the seeds and lightly oil the flesh side of the pumpkin/s, season with Chef Troy’s Back Rub or kosher salt and place on the direct heat side of the grill. Grill just long enough to slightly char the flesh.

Roasting:

Placing a double layered piece of aluminum foil on the top rack of the grill over the indirect heat side of the grill. If oven roasting, place foil on a baking sheet. The foil should be long and/or wide enough so that the pumpkin can be placed cut side down on the foil and be completely on the foil.

Place sheet tray in oven or close the lid and let the pumpkin slow roast for 45 minutes to one hour or until tender. Let pumpkin cool just long enough to handle and scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin out and place in a bowl until ready to use. (1 pound of raw pumpkin yields about 1 cup of roasted pumpkin.)

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