Food & Wine (November 2014)
Trifles have long been the go-to dessert for Zach's mom Brenda.
Any time of year, for just about any occasion, she'd whip up a trifle. In the summer, it'd be ladyfingers layered with fresh berries and cream. In colder months, she'd make coffee tiramisu trifles -- dipping the ladyfingers in strong coffee and then laying in chocolate and mocha cream.
In fact, there's a funny family story about Brenda and trifles (a story that also happens to tell you a whole lot about Brenda as a person).
See, in the small Tennessee town where Zach grew up -- especially back in the day -- ladyfingers were often hard to find. You could usually hunt them down around Christmas, but they didn't really show up much during the rest of the year.
One time, Brenda came home from town with bags -- bags -- full of packages of ladyfingers. There must have been 30 packages. She'd found a good supply and bought every last package in the store, which she planned to freeze and use in trifles later on.
The reason Brenda bought out the store's entire supply of ladyfingers? She wanted to "stock up before the hoarders could get to 'em."
Indeed.
Anyway, there's good reason Brenda's such a strong believer in a good trifle: They're a cinch to make, they're great for feeding a crowd, they're tasty, and they're best when made well in advance.
In other words, a trifle could be an ideal dessert for Thanksgiving.
But, we're sorry to say, perhaps not this particular trifle.
We really wanted to love this Pumpkin Tiramisu. For aforementioned reasons, we like the idea of serving a trifle at Thanksgiving. And we were definitely on board for the unusual pumpkin-coffee combo of this tiramisu.
But the result was just too bland. We could hardly taste the pumpkin at all. The coffee flavor was nice, but very weak. (If you make this, be sure to brew extra-strong coffee.)
Maybe you could double the nutmeg, ground ginger and cinnamon? Maybe you could add more pumpkin puree and a little less cream, to help balance the flavor? (Although it would make the mousse a lot less mousse-y.) We're not sure. Maybe you have a better idea.
What about you? Are you a trifle fan? Ever made one for Thanksgiving?
Pumpkin Tiramisu
Food & Wine (November 2014), recipe by Justin Chapple
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(This photo: Food & Wine/John Kernick)
Active time: 45 mins plus overnight chilling
Servings: 12
INGREDIENTS
One 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 cups brewed coffee, cooled
Two 7-ounce packages dry ladyfingers
Chocolate shavings and candied ginger, for garnish
DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree with the brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar. Add the mascarpone and 1 1/2 cups of the heavy cream. Using an electric mixer, beat the pumpkin mixture at medium speed until soft peaks form; do not overbeat.
In a medium bowl, whisk the brewed coffee with 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar until it’s dissolved.
Dip both sides of 6 ladyfingers in the coffee and arrange them in a single layer in a 4-quart trifle dish. Spread 1 cup of the pumpkin mousse on top. Repeat the layering 5 more times, ending with a layer of the pumpkin mousse. Cover and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1 cup of cream with the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar until soft peaks form. Dollop the whipped cream over the tiramisu, garnish with shaved chocolate and candied ginger and serve.