A Case For Thanksgiving Tiramisu

SCRAPS #85: 4 tiramisu recipes to make this Thanksgiving

I had so much fun filming these recipes on the NYTCooking YouTube channel, click below the watch me make all three tiramisus.

When it comes to planning your Thanksgiving dessert menu, tiramisu might not be the first thing that comes to mind, but here are five reasons why I think it should:

1. It’s a no-bake dessert

Your oven is already working overtime on Thanksgiving, from baking pies, to birds, to every casserole know to man. Give it—and yourself—a break by making a dessert that doesn’t require baking. Thanks to ladyfingers (savoiardi biscuits) being widely available in most grocery stores, you can now make tiramisu at home, without turning on your oven.

2. It quick to make & can be made ahead

Since we established these tiramisu recipes don’t require any baking, they’re also really quick to make. From start to finish, you can probably whip one together in less than an hour. All you have to do is make the whipped mascarpone filling, some sort of sauce to go between the layers—cranberry sauce, pumpkin date butter or caramel braised apples—then assemble the whole thing. If you want to speed up the cooling process, place whichever filling (that’s in a bowl/pot) you are trying to cool over a bowl filled with ice and stir vigorously. This should bring down its temperature in a matter of minutes.

You know that saying “poor planning equals poor performance”? That saying is especially true when it comes to hosting dinner parties. The more things you can make ahead of Thanksgiving—washing and chopping vegetables, batching a couple of cocktails, marinating your birds, making your pie fillings—the easier your hosting experience will be. With that in mind, tiramisu is one of those desserts that gets better and better as it chills in the fridge, so make it a day or two in advance of the Thanksgiving dinner, and you can check the dessert off your to-do list.

3. It’s a light dessert to serve after a big meal

I don’t think I’ve ever had a tiramisu that left me feeling stuffed. It’s one of those desserts that eats very light thanks to the whipped mascarpone and tender, soaked ladyfingers, making it an appropriate dessert to serve after one of the biggest meals you’ll have all year.

4. It’s a beginner-friendly dessert that’s also easily customizable

Since tiramisu has such few elements—a whipped mascarpone filling, ladyfingers and a ladyfinger soak—it’s incredibly easy to whip together, especially if this is the first dessert genre you decided to dip your toes in. Read about my best tips to nail tiramisu every single time HERE. With such few elements, it’s easy to understand just how customizable this dessert can get:

Make it gluten-free

While gluten-free ladyfingers are more difficult to come across in your average grocery store, you can easily make your own. If you don’t want to make your own or can’t find gluten-free ladyfingers, you can easily substitute them with some gluten-free cookies or wafers.

Play with flavors

Make it boozy. Make it chocolaty. Make it your own.

Add a splash of liqueur to the ladyfinger soak, such as orange liqueur or limoncello in the cranberry tiramisu, rum or whiskey in the apple caramel one and sambuca or chocolate liqueur in the pumpkin date tiramisu.

Skip the apple cider or chai soak and switch back to the familiar espresso. There are so many ways to make these tiramisus your own, please don’t be afraid to do so.

Make it eggless

One of the most frequently asked questions when it comes to tiramisu recipes is how to skip adding the yolks commonly used in the whipped mascarpone filling. The answer to that is to simply omit them. The pumpkin date tiramisu recipe I am sharing today demonstrates that technique, you can watch the video here. Keep in mind most ladyfingers are made using eggs, so if you want to make tiramisu truly eggless, you’ll have to find a substitute for that.

5. It’s easy to transport

If you’ve ever been in charge of bringing desserts to a gathering, you know just how much thought you need to put into transporting them. Some are fussier than others, but these tiramisu recipes couldn’t be more forgiving. Whether you want to use a disposable aluminum container or thrift a $5 ceramic pan—and gift it to the host—these tiramisu are so easy to transport from A to B in any scenario: with your car, in a cab, public transportation or simply walking to the dinner party.

With that said, here are 4 tiramisu recipes to make this Thanksgiving:

CRANBERRY TIRAMISU

This tiramisu delivers a bite that’s a little tart, a little fruity, and ideal for anyone who enjoys a classic cheesecake. If I were to choose a favorite child, it would probably be this one.

Credit: Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne.

CARAMEL APPLE TIRAMISU

Caramel-braised apples, homemade caramel and whipped mascarpone—it’s not hard to understand just how special this bite is. This one’s ideal for the guest who enjoys an apple pie, but wants to switch things up a little.

Credit: Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne.

PUMPKIN DATE TIRAMISU

Pumpkin-date butter, whipped mascarpone and chai-soaked lady fingers, a great combo for the guest who looks forward to the first day of fall all year long. This is the only tiramisu option out of the four that does not use eggs in the whipped mascarpone.

Credit: Andrew Bui for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Kaitlin Wayne.

SINGLE-SERVE TIRAMISU

The closest one to a classic tiramisu, this recipe delivers a solution for anyone hosting a smaller Thanksgiving dinner, whether it’s by themselves, with a friend or with a significant other. This tiramisu recipe yields two hefty tiramisu portions. If you don’t feel like eating raw yolks, here’s a method on how to cook them over a pot of boiling water before you mix them in the mascarpone.