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Chai Tiramisu! Doesn’t it look dreamy?
Thank you for contributing to the very serious reality television conversation. SO many good recommendations that I’m mostly scared to check out because what will happen if I watch that much reality TV?! Will my brain turn to mush?! PROBS. I’ll need to balance that shit out with some articles from the New Yorker.
Chai Tiramisu is a Banger!
Let’s talk about this dessert because it’s the freakin’ weekend. This “winter” the two drinks that have been in very heavy rotation have been the golden milk tea and chai tea from The Year of Cozy. I usually make them for a mid-afternoon pick me up when really my body is calling for espresso but I’m scared I’ll be up all night. Those two drinks help me the most in that scenario.
And just like Jessica, I’ve been wanting to “chai” everything. It started with the Masala Chai Snickerdoodles (recipe in Da Year of Cozy) and it’s now continue to this Masala Chai Tiramisu.
It’s a simple and delicious addition that acts in place of the espresso that’s usually in tiramisu.
Mascarpone Is Important
The filling for the recipe is adapted from the tiramisu at Del Posto which is the most amazing tiramisu in the entire world. (If you haven’t eaten it, do it the next time you’re in New York.)
It’s fluffy and airy with just a hint of rum. I’m not a super big fan of tiramisu’s that taste just like rum. The lady fingers are dipped in the chai and then layered with the filling. The entire shebang is dusted with lots of cocoa powder.
It’s so good and tasty. And it’s the easiest thing to make for when friends come over because you can make it ahead and
I know a lot of people love making their own lady fingers. I personally didn’t bother (and these comments on this post aren’t convincing either) because I wanted this recipe to be super easy. When shopping for lady fingers, I lean toward the Italian brands. They are a bit drier and you’ll see my note below. They can take a bit more liquid so I favor them a bit more than other American brands.
Chai Tiramisu
Ingredients
Chai Tea Concentrate:
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, (about 10 peppercorns)
- 5 whole cloves
- 3 pods cardamom
- 2 " knob fresh ginger, (peeled and cut into rounds)
- 1 stick cinnamon
- 3 cups filtered water
- 3 bags black tea
- 1/4 cup sugar
Mascarpone filling:
- 2 cups mascarpone
- ½ cup white granulated sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 3 tablespoons heavy cream
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 24 lady fingers, (from a 7-ounce package)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted, for topping
Instructions
To Make the Chai Concentrate:
- On a cutting board, using the back of a chef's knife, crush the black peppercorns, cloves, and cardamom pods. Place them in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the ginger and cinnamon sticks and toast for 2 to 3 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Add the water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add the tea bags, turn off the heat and cover the pot so the tea can steep for 5 minutes. Discard the tea bags and pour in the sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Pour the tea through a strainer and set aside. If you're moving super fast through this recipe, you may need to transfer the bowl of chai tea to the fridge to chill faster.
To Make the Mascarpone Filling:
- In the stand-up mixer (with the whisk attachment) or using a hand-held electric mixer, combine the mascarpone, sugar, egg yolks, dark rum, heavy cream and salt. Beat for about two minutes, until light and fluffy. The mixture should fall back onto itself.
To Assemble the Tiramisu:
- Spread about 1/3 cup of the mascarpone filling onto the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish. Dip about 6 to 7 lady fingers, one by one, into the chai tea, arranging them side by side. If there's a gap between the lady fingers and the baking dish, place a few in the opposite direction.
- Spread about 1/2 cup of the mascarpone filling atop the lady fingers. Repeat layering with the remaining two layers. Smooth the top layer of mascarpone filling until nice and even. Lightly cover the tiramisu and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 2 hours (or up to 1 day). Dust the top with the cocoa powder.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this for thanksgiving and it was soo good! It was a lot easier than I thought, and very delicious. In the future, I may use chai tea bags because it would be quicker. Also, could you add to this recipe in the mascarpone and eggs should be cold or room temp? Some tiramisu recipes call for this ingredients to be room temp. However, you regular tiramisu recipe said that they should be cold, so I kept them cold. And everything blended together very smoothly. Just a suggestion. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Is there a replacement for the lady’s finger crust? I’m from India and we don’t get them here.
unfortunately not really!
You can always bake off your own and make the ladyfingers as a sheet cake!
Perfect dessert for a party! I’m going to try it for my dinner with friends this weekend!!
– Natalie
This recipe looks yummy. I love all things chai. Where did you find that blue casserole dish? I love it!
Target but a few years ago 🙁
This sounds and looks amazing and I’d love to try but need GF. Has anyone tried baking with the Schar gluten-free lady fingers? Thank you!
I think this would work great with GF lady fingers! 🙂
This looks amazing! Can’t wait to try it.
Can I substitute the dark rum with some non alcoholic? (eg vanilla essence) and if so how much do you think I’d need?
Thanks!!
I would recommend simply skipping it. Vanilla essence won’t taste very good. 🙂
This looks amazing and I can’t wait to try making it. I’m a little afraid of raw eggs in foods, any helpful advice on on that?
Use organic eggs and you should be fine. But obviously you know if you’re pregnant you definitely should stay away from raw eggs and definitely eat them at your own risk. (I’ve never had a problem before though – I eat meringue all the time.)
This looks so good! Would it make a significant difference if I don’t add dark rum? Bailey’s is the only alcohol I have on hand at the moment.
Oh I think Bailey’s would be great.
I made my own chai spice last month after my husband began spending a fortune on the cartons of chai at the store. The first batch I made had so much pepper, OMG! I thought my head was going to explode. I gotta find your recipe and try that one instead. Then use it to make this tiramisu, looks muy bueno!!
The chai recipe is at the beginning of the recipe above. Everything you need is here!
OMG! I made this last night, the flavors are AWESOME!! 🙂 It was such an easy recipe to do (I did the tea bags instead of making the concentrate, so that saved time!). The only thing is that the filling has not set properly, it is still a bit runny…I guess I didn’t mix the filling enough BUT it does not matter! it is still delicious and I will make it again for sure!! Thank you so much for this recipe, I have never ever though I would make a tiramisu but I did and I am so happy!! 🙂
YAYYYY! That’s amazing. You know, on one of my tests I had the same thing happened but when I used Italian lady fingers it didn’t happen. What brand of lady fingers did you use? I think next time if you want to give it a go, you should just lightly dunk the lady fingers in there.
Oh I see, I used the Whole Foods brand. They were not so dry and I did a super fast dunk but they absorbed so much tea! lol I’ll try Italian lady fingers next time for sure! 🙂 Thank you so much for replying to my comments, you are the BEST!! 🙂
Dude! I know. I used the WF brand too and that was the one that resulted in the super watery tiramisu! Maybe next time don’t even dunk the whole thing OR use Italian lady fingers, which tend to be MUCH drier. So interesting!
Interesting! Thank you so much for the tip! You are the BEST! 🙂