DIVINE Pistachio Tiramisu

This Pistachio tiramisu is one of the most delicious pistachio dessert recipes that you can make or eat. Best of all it's simple and needs to be made a day ahead so it's great for entertaining leaving you mostly free on the day. This is one of the most delicious Italian desserts and is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!

Everyone loves Italian tiramisu but have you ever tried a pistachio tiramisu? It is out of this world delicious! This pistachio tiramisu is layered with coffee soaked savoiardi or lady finger biscuits with a pistachio mascarpone Amaretto cream. On top is a layer of pistachio cream and on top of that are chopped, roasted pistachios. This is for the pistachio lovers in your life!

Tips For Making Pistachio Tiramisu

1 - There are a few types of pistachio paste available but for this pistachio tiramisu recipe you want a sweet one like this Pisti brand (not a savoury one like a pistachio pesto).

2 - This pistachio tiramisu is best made a day ahead giving the savoiardi lady finger biscuits time to soften and the cream to set firm for each serving.

3 - Make sure to let the excess coffee drip off the lady fingers. If you don't the tiramisu ends up having a "wet" or soggy texture. I learned the base tiramisu recipe from chef Davide Berchiatti in Rome and it is truly the best tiramisu recipe.

4 - If you are worried about eating raw eggs you can also find pasteurised eggs. Otherwise use fresh eggs.

5 - I used amaretto but you can also use Marsala or just omit it if you don't want to add alcohol to this tiramisu.

6 - I was making this pistachio tiramisu where I needed to transport it so I used a 2.7 litre glass dish that was 8cm (H) x 28cm (W) x 21.5cm (D) / 3.1-inch (H) x 11-inch (W) x 8.5-inch (D) from Kmart. This comes with a lid and fits this tiramisu perfectly and makes it easy to transport.

7 - This tiramisu will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge (if it lasts that long!). Many say that you can freeze tiramisu but we've never had any leftovers to test it out!

8- This tiramisu feeds around 10-12 people and is quite a rich tiramisu so I would recommend serving this in smaller portions. I made this for an Elliott gathering where there were around a dozen people.

Other Tiramisu Recipes You May Like:

• The Classic Tiramisu
• Matchamisu Matcha Tiramisu
• Limoncello Tiramisu
• Beeramisu
• Chocolate Tiramisu

Our Elliott family Christmas celebrations were really fun. My family is still overseas so we had the Elliotts over for Christmas. There are 3 generations of Elliotts with Tuulikki as the mother, the four Elliott kids and 3 grandkids. It was remarkably relaxing; perhaps the absence of Mr NQN's father Roger who is a bit of a "cat among the pigeons" contributed to that. Below is a pic of everyone except for Mr NQN who cropped himself out. He hates being in photos so he usually positions himself at the edge of the photo so that he can easily be cropped out. It's a trick he learned from his mother Tuulikki.

Tuulikki is the family's sneak papparazzi. She loves to take sneak photos where we are totally unprepared that she then uploads to social media. But Tuulikki's eyesight isn't what it used to be though and has often uploads pics of us with our mouths open about to spoon some food into our mouths, eyes closed and she also specialises in double chins. It drives us a bit crazy. When we ask her to take them down she just says, "But you look so lovely!".

It has gotten to the point that if we spot her sneaking her phone out which she does comically slowly while looking like she is up to no good (unintentionally), we all warn each other. And even at her age she is now learning the meaning of consent as her Gen Alpha grandkids tell her, "We don't consent to these photos!" when she sneaks her phone out and takes sneak pics of them.

"Do you know what that means? They don't consent to photos being taken of them, you have to ask people first," I explained to her.

"But when I ask, people say no! So I just take it otherwise I won't get any photos!" she cried, with her unique Tuulikki logic.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a sneak photographer in your family? And have you ever tried pistachio tiramisu?

Pistachio Tiramisu

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Serves: 10 people

This recipe should be made the day before

• 250ml/8.8flozs espresso coffee, cold
• 3 egg whites (around 110g/3.9ozs)
• 1 pinch salt
• 5 egg yolks (around 90g/3ozs)
• 150g/5ozs. caster or superfine sugar
• 200g/7ozs Pisti pistachio paste
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• 500g/1.1lbs. mascarpone, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons Amaretto (can also use marsala or omit completely)
• 550ml/19.4flozs thickened or pure cream
• 30 savoiardi/sponge fingers/ lady fingers
• 200g/7ozs Pisti pistachio paste
• 120g/4ozs pistachios, toasted, chopped

Notes: I used a 2.7 litre glass dish that was 8cm (H) x 28cm (W) x 21.5cm (D) / 3.1-inch (H) x 11-inch (W) x 8.5-inch (D) from Kmart.

Step 1 - Whisk egg whites in a clean bowl with clean mixers with a pinch of salt until stiff. Scoop out and set aside in another bowl. In the same mixing bowl, whisk the cream until you get soft peaks and the scoop out and set aside in the fridge in another bowl. Then using the same mixing bowl (I'm just saying that you don't need to wash the mixing bowl) whisk the egg yolks with sugar and vanilla until the mixture is pale and fluffy (around 3 minutes) and then whisk in the pistachio paste until smooth. Then whisk in the mascarpone and Amaretto or marsala until the mixture is smooth.

Step 2 - Switch to a spatula and fold in the whipped cream and the egg whites gently to the mascarpone mixture so as not to deflate them too much. It should be a light, fluffy thick creamy mixture.

Step 3 - Apply a layer of pistachio mascarpone cream on the base of a serving dish. Dip the ladyfingers in the cold coffee allowing the excess to drip off. Place a layer of these on top of the cream - I used 10 per layer for this size tray. Then add another layer of cream and repeat so that you end up with three layers of ladyfingers sandwiched with cream. Finish on a final layer of cream using a palette knife to smooth over the surface. At this stage you can cover and refrigerate this overnight.

Step 4 - On serving day loosen the pistachio paste by microwaving it for 20-30 seconds on high until it is more liquid. Spread it over the top of the tiramisu smoothing it out quickly with a angled palette knife before it sets. Sprinkle the chopped pistachios on top so that it is totally covered. Cut into small servings.