Rose Panna Cotta

Fresh flowers are easily my favorite way to decorate my apartment, even though my boyfriend doesn't necessarily agree (he has a thing against falling petals). Regardless of what he thinks, I'm getting into the habit of buying fresh cut flowers to place here and there. I love how a simple arrangement can instantly bring an entire room to life, and they always make me smile.

I've used flowers in a few of my food photos before, but I wanted to try to really feature them, instead of just placing them in the background as an accent (clearly a result of working on foraging cookbooks at work). Since I'm not going to be foraging anytime soon (because I live in the concrete jungle and it's a balmy 13 degrees right now), my photos will have to make due with what I can pick up at my grocery store.

And since its Valentine's Day, what better flower to work with than the rose? And since we're all procrastinators (don't deny it--I'm posting a V-day recipe the day before and you're here reading it), what better dessert to work roses into than panna cotta?

Panna cotta is perhaps the easiest dessert ever. It's incredibly hands-off; it takes just a few minutes (like 15 max, and that's including 10 minutes where you're not really doing anything). I've tried many different panna cotta recipes (from chocolate to yogurt to buttermilk), but this one uses my favorite base recipe. Out of all the variations I've tried, this one is the creamiest, richest, and sets the fastest (always a plus). My cousin Angie has been making this version for years. It's normally made with a bit of vanilla extract for flavor, but in honor of everyone's favorite holiday, I swapped it out for a little rose water. Rose water can be a little strong, so don't go overboard with it. I found a teaspoon to be plenty, but even 3/4 teaspoon would be enough to give a nice hint of floral flavor.

This creamy rose water panna cotta is a luscious, indulgent treat to make for your Valentine. And since it takes less than 15 minutes to prepare and needs a few uninterrupted hours in the fridge, it's perfect for making ahead. Valentine's Day is saved!

Rose Panna Cotta
recipe adapted slightly from À La Carte, by María Villegas

Ingredients

For the Panna Cotta

1 cup milk
3 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
2 ⅓ cups heavy cream
1 teaspoon rose water
7 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

For the Topping

fresh strawberries, thinly sliced
very finely chopped unsalted pistachios
Directions


Add the milk to a medium saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let stand for ten minutes.  In the meantime, prepare an ice bath in a large plastic bowl.  Add the cream and rosewater to a bowl.  

After ten minutes have passed, heat the milk and gelatin over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the gelatin has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the sugar and salt, and stir until dissolved.  

Slowly pour in the cream mixture, whisking constantly.  Transfer the cream mixture from the saucepan to a clean bowl, and place the bowl in the ice bath.  Leave the mixture sit in the ice bath for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened.  After the ten minutes, pass this mixture through a fine-mesh sieve, and then pour into small ramekins or pretty glassware. 

Cover the panna cottas with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge to firm, at least four hours. Serve chilled with a sprinkling of finely chopped pistachios and a few thin strawberry slices.

Serves 6-8

Chocolate Panna Cotta

My obsession with panna cotta has been well documented here. It all started a few years ago when my cousin Angie shared this delectable panna cotta with a simple strawberry sauce. I never thought I could love a dessert without a trace of chocolate as much as I loved that panna cotta. It was just divine! Since then, I've expanded my panna cotta repertoire to include both buttermilk and Greek yogurt versions, and while I love both of those, the original cream and milk only version is still my favorite. Luscious and smooth, it's truly something special.

While I had ventured out of the traditional panna cotta realm before, I never strayed far from the same basic sweet cream flavor. Sure, some versions added a hint of tang, but essentially, it was a similar flavor profile. I hadn't thought about making a chocolate version until recently, and I thought that would be a good place to begin experimenting. I envisioned a super smooth and velvety chocolate treat that was just rich enough to save for special occasions, but not enough that you'd want to skimp out on your share!

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta

If I had to pick a non-chocolate dessert to eat for the rest of my lift (I say non-chocolate because a chocolate dessert will easily beat out any other), it would be panna cotta.  I tried panna cotta for the first time a few years back when I was helping my cousin make one for a family gathering, and I remember thinking that this was a really, really strange dessert.  I just couldn't understand how combining milk and cream and sugar could be good (clearly I hadn't attempted to make ice cream yet), and adding gelatin into the mix just seemed like a recipe for something really funky. I wasn't convinced that we had a winning dessert on our hands, but my cousin assured me that this was something special.  Needless to say, she was completely right. I hadn't tasted anything quite like it before, but my mind had been changed- cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin are a recipe for something DELISH!

I like playing with variations on the traditional panna cotta, just to see what other interesting flavors are possible.  I've made a buttermilk panna cotta that I thought was delicious, and this particular recipe for a panna cotta made with Greek yogurt is one that I've had my eye on for quite some time. I was inspired by Chobani's  #MadeWithChobani project, and I figured that with the holidays literally around the corner, now would be the perfect time to finally try out this recipe. 

Gluten-Free Breakfast Apple Crisp

I wish I could say that I went apple picking and picked all the apples used in this crisp myself, but that would be a lie.  A big, big lie.  It would also be a lie if I said that I loved apple picking, because I've never actually gone.  It's unfortunate, because I'm sure I would love it, and also because there are lots of great apple farms on Long Island's North Fork.  I've made it my mission to go, and hopefully I'll get to go once before the season is over.  I'm ready to wear my flannel and pick as many apples as I can, and buy a good amount of cider and homemade preserves.  I have my plans all set, and now it's just a matter of actually, you know, doing them. It'll happen.  Until it happens, though, I've gone ahead and purchased the best apples I could find over the weekend, and made some apple treats.  I had a craving for all things apple, and just because I didn't have freshly picked apples didn't mean that I would leave that craving unfulfilled. 

I wanted to start off my apple baking with something that was simple and unfussy.  I wanted pie, but it required a little bit more effort than I was feeling over the weekend.  I decided to leave apple pie on my to-do list for another weekend, and taking the warm, bubbly apple cue from the pie, I decided to make a crisp instead. Juicy, sweetened apples with a buttery and crunchy topping...that's just what I needed!

Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Mixed Berries

It's almost here, it's almost here! It's almost the Fourth of July! With this holiday now less than a week away, it's time to whip up some delicious and summer treats in our favorite shades of red, white, and blue.  For me, red and blue mean BERRIES.  Artificially dyed treats like cupcakes and cookies dyed in unnatural shades of colors really weird me out (pastel is ok, but super bright and fluorescent is just not ok), so strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries are my way of getting my red and blue fix.  Actually, the ultimate red, white, and blue dessert for me would be a simple bowl of strawberries and blueberries topped off with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.  It's the easiest thing in the world to make and it screams summer.  

I thought that I would take a cue from my ultimate easy summer dessert as a starting point for a simple and refined approach to a Fourth of July dessert.  Berries with fresh whipped cream has turned into panna cotta with macerated berries; it sounds fancy, but it's still a really easy dessert!  In Italian, panna cotta means "cooked cream," and that's literally what this dessert is. Panna cotta is traditionally a mixture of heavy cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin that gets cooked together, poured into a mold or cup, and then left in the fridge to chill until solidified. It's a very straightforward dish, and takes very little effort and time to prepare.  Essentially, if you can prepare a batch of Jell-O, you should have no problem making panna cotta.

Mini Berry Flag Tarts for the Make and Takes Blog!

Can you believe that we're at the end of June already!? I can't.  I'm in denial that we've already reached the end of the first month of summer.  Sure, there're two months left, but that seems like such a short amount of time, considering that there's all kinds of summery activities that I still need to do.  I still need to get my hands on a Mister Softee cone, an Italian ice from Ralphs, a burger from All American, and a Long Island lobster roll.  I can't let summer get by without these four things escaping from me (there's more, obviously, but these are my priority). While I'm still going to have to come to terms with the fact that it's practically July, I'm actually really excited about Independence Day next week.  A holiday that celebrates cookouts and barbecues and berry desserts and has fireworks at the end is my kind of holiday!  

I have a few themed desserts for the Fourth in mind, but I'm starting out with something super simple.  Having intricate desserts is nice and all, but sometimes, we just need something we can put together fast, with minimal effort and without needing to heat up our kitchens.  These mini berry tartlets do just that.  Little mini phyllo shells are filled with a delicious white chocolate filling and topped off with fresh berries.  They're incredibly simple to make, and when arranged in our iconic stars and stripes, are the perfect dessert for the Fourth of July (or, if you're a World Cup fan, for tomorrow's game- USA! USA!).  Head on over to the Make and Takes blog for the full recipe and more photos.  Enjoy, and happy summer!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

I can't explain to you how happy I am to finally be sharing the recipe for this strawberry-rhubarb cobbler.  No, it's not that I've been waiting and waiting until the perfect moment to share the recipe.  It's also not because I made it several weeks ago and just forgot to share it.  No, my excitement has nothing to do with that.  I'm mostly excited about sharing this recipe because I was able to simply make it.  You wouldn't believe the amount of trouble I had finding rhubarb this spring.  My local supermarket typically carries it for a super short time in the spring and you just have to be lucky enough to be in the supermarket at that time to buy it, but this year, they just weren't carrying it.  In fact, none of the markets near me were stocking rhubarb.  I called several stores to ask if they had any rhubarb, and while a few of them actually said yes, by the time I made it over, it was all gone.  This meant that in the ten minutes it took me to get from my house to the store, some lucky person grabbed the last of the rhubarb.  I was getting frustrated and disheartened.  I'd been searching for the stuff for three weeks and just couldn't seem to catch a break!  My craving for rhubarb-anything wasn't going anywhere though, so I knew I had to keep trying. 

Fortunately for me, my mom decided to help me out with my rhubarb search, and she actually got lucky and found it!  I don't know how she did it, but I was so glad.  The search was over!  I came home on Saturday night to five beautiful stalks of ruby red rhubarb sitting in pitcher of water on my kitchen counter, and it was an amazing sight to see.  It was also perfectly timed, because my mom was having her best friend come over for dinner on Mother's Day, and she goes crazy for anything with rhubarb and strawberries.  Now that I had secured the rhubarb, it was time to figure out what to do with it!

Mini Coconut Macaroon Tartlets

Happy Spring everyone!  The season that seemed like it was never going to arrive finally has, and it was about time.  At least, I think it has.  It might be spring on paper, technically speaking, yet I'm still wearing a coat and scarf every time I go outside, and there's supposedly snow coming today at some point.  While the weather seems to have missed the memo about the change of season, I definitely haven't.  I'm fully ready to embrace spring!  I love spring, as I'm sure most people who don't like the winter do.  It's such a refreshing change from cold dreary days.  Now that it's spring, I'm getting excited about churning out lovely spring recipes that are simple, refreshing, fluffy, light, cute, pink, tart, lemony, berry-filled, etc, etc.

For my first spring celebratory recipe, I've made a super simple dessert featuring coconut, lemon, and blackberry. This perfectly spring-inspired flavor profile all comes together in these super adorable Mini Coconut Macaroon Tartlets.  Aren't they cute?!  I took a basic coconut macaroon recipe, which happens to be one of my favorite coconut treats, and used it to create little tartlet shells, which I then filled with lemon curd and topped with a fresh blackberry.  They're simple and infinitely adaptable, which makes them a great idea for springtime get-togethers. This recipe is being featured today on the Make and Takes blog, so head on over there for the full recipe and more photos!

Chocolate Amaretto Pots de Crème

Chocolate Amaretto Pots de Crème.  This just might be the richest, most indulgent dessert I've made to date so far.  That's saying a lot, and is possibly not true.  I've made my fair share of over the top decadent desserts (like this Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart), but I feel like this is unquestionably somewhere near the top of the list of decadent desserts, if not number one.  Trust me when I say that this is one dessert that's so rich and delectable, you'll need someone to share it with.

What better occasion to share an over-the-top, rich, dreamy, intense chocolate dessert with someone than Valentine's Day?  Am I right, or am I right?  These little chocolate pots de crème are an adorable and unforgettable way to end a special Valentine's Day meal.  Then again, I'm sure that if you're an anti-Valentine's Day/Singles Awareness Day celebrator, this rich dessert would be a perfect fit for you too.  What better way to say you're single and loving life than eating making an incredible dessert and eating it too?  Whatever camp you're in, this is one dessert that you've simply got to make and experience for yourself.

Eggnog Rice Pudding

Hello again!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday full of food, family, friends, and pie.  I'm still feeling a little stuffed from all the holiday celebrations, especially with the onset of the Christmas holidays. I've been contemplating all kinds of Christmas goods to bake, for myself, for my friends, and of course, for the blog.  Fortunately, these three groups tend to overlap, which makes my job a bit easier.  If not, I don't think I'd ever make a dent in my baking list, although this tends to be the case in real life regardless.  I've said before that I am usually too ambitious when it comes to planning what to bake over the holidays (in general, actually...), and create a baking wish list that is in no way possible to actually complete, no matter how hard I work at organizing my time.  The things that do end up being made, however, usually end up being some of my favorite treats, and I'm always happy for whatever reason I chose to give them some priority.  

I'm sure that with the first week of December practically behind us, and officially LESS than THREE WEEKS until Christmas, your baking plans are starting to take shape, if they haven't already been firmly decided upon. I've been busy thinking too, and am slowly but surely beginning to figure out some kind of loose, very rough plan of action.  I don't care if it's still in the rough stages, the fact that it exists is good enough for me!  I'm working on coming up with recipes that are great for giving and recipes that are simple and delicious for holiday parties.  Eggnog rice pudding was one of the first things I thought of for a holiday party.  Now, I'll be honest, this idea was a complete experiment because I wasn't exactly sure if this would be a recipe that I'd truly like.  You see, I'm not exactly a huge fan of eggnog.  I know, I'm weird.  First, I don't like pumpkin pie, and now, I don't like eggnog?! What kind of person am I?!

A weird one, I guess.  Oh well. 

Red, White, and Blueberry Profiteroles

The Fourth of July is tomorrow, weeee!  I'm going to a barbecue with some of my friends in the afternoon, and then going to see some fireworks action at night, and I'm super excited, if the "weeee" at the beginning wasn't a hint. I'm ready for some serious hot dog/hamburger/potato salad/pasta salad action, followed by some pie and vanilla ice cream, and hopefully some old fashioned s'mores.  It's gonna be a gooood day, provided that it doesn't rain! Everyone, cross your fingers and toes, please. 

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I'm sure you've noticed the Fourth of July-appropriate desserts that I have posted in the past few days (and if you haven't, I'll make it easy for you: click here for some red, white, and blue velvet whoopie pies, and click here for a classic cherry pie.  You're welcome!).  Both of those desserts were good old American classics, but, I did want to throw in something that was equally delicious and appropriate for a Fourth of July barbecue, but also something a bit more unconventional.  Enter red, white, and blueberry profiteroles!

Profiteroles may sound fancy and annoyingly complicated to make, but I promise you, they're anything but that! A profiterole is simply a cream puff that's been filled with a scoop of ice cream instead of pastry cream/whipped cream, and then drizzled with chocolate sauce.  Since it is the Fourth of July though, I decided to swap out the chocolate sauce for some fresh blueberry and raspberry sauces, in order to keep the color scheme going to some degree.  I thought that profiteroles would be a perfect option for a barbecue, as the puffs themselves are really not difficult to make, and everything can be made and assembled in advance.  All you'll have to do when you're ready to serve them is take them out of the freezer for a few minutes and pour some of the berry sauce on top, and dessert is done!

Mini Strawberries and Cream Eclairs

I woke up on this lovely spring morning (so happy I can finallllyyyy say that), with a plan.  I had planned out the night before to wake up early, run to the library, and sit myself down to do work for three hours on my independent study project.  Then after that, I was going to get lunch, grab a coffee, and go to class.  During my time at the library, I was supposed to write this blog post about strawberries and cream eclairs, and learn a thing or two about prefabrication.  Note that I used the word "supposed." I use that word because, of course, my plan didn't actually work out.  I did wake up early, and I did get to the library right when it opened, but then that's where the plan fell apart.  After I did my fifteen minutes of online procrastination (you know, Reddit, Foodgawker, etc), I kinda just lost it.  

I kinda lost all the motivation I had to do work and be productive.  My productive spark just died, and I could feel it.  I developed a splitting headache while sitting at the library, and no matter what I did, I just couldn't focus on anything or read the several books that were sitting in front of me. My body just wouldn't let me, as much as I was trying to force myself to do work.  So then, I decided that the only thing to do was to try to sleep this headache off.  Rather than walk back to my room and sleep in a bed like a normal person, my laziness (and also my desire to eventually get some work done) got the best of me, and I decided to just take a nap right where I was, right at my desk in the library.  Yep.  I was the girl who was passed out in the library, and it was only 9:30 AM.  #senioritis

Plum Crumble

We've finally reached the tail end of summer, and are in that sort of weird, slightly awkward time of year.  You know what I mean.  This type of thing happens all the time, not just know...when it's chilly in the morning and then blazing hot in the afternoon, and you just can't decide what to wear that would be considered weather or seasonably appropriate.  The answer to this predicament is to simply bring along a nice, light cardigan for the morning, which you can simply remove once the afternoon heat begins to creep in. This however, is too simple of a solution for me.  See, I like to complicate my life a bit more than I need to, and sometimes, I just don't feel like having to carry around that cardigan that weighs absolutely nothing at all, because I just dont feel like it. This of course leads me to be uncomfortably cold in the mornings, but I've decided that changing my ways at this point is not happening.  I'll just deal with being cold. 

This, obviously, is exactly what happened to me yesterday.  The first day of classes of my senior year was yesterday, and even though I knew that my first class was in a building that is notorious for blasting their air conditioner at ridiculous levels, regardless of the season, I decided not to bring a sweater.  It was a dumb decision, to say the least.  I spent more time trying to figure out how to keep warm instead of paying attention in my tiny seminar, but it's ok, because I'm not going to make the same mistake again tomorrow (it's just a tad awkward when you don't pay attention in seminar courses...it's only slightly obvious).  In any case though, this delicate time of year in which debating whether or not to bring along a cardigan will soon come to pass. Similarly, the weird struggle to decide whether to bake up just a few more summery treats or get a head start on spiced fall goodies will soon be over.  I decided to be rational in that matter though, and went with a more summer-inspired dish to prepare, since I figured I would end up regretting it if I didn't...so I baked a plum crumble.

Cherry Clafoutis

Fall is just around the corner, and I am SO ready.  Really, really, really ready, actually.  I just got a sudden urge to make apple crisp and pumpkin muffins with cream cheese centers, lots of bowls of oatmeal, and all things spiced.  I'm ready for crisp and chilly fall breezes, colorful leaves on the trees (and the ground), and I'm ready to pull out my sweaters and boots.  It's time for fall!  I don't know what made me start craving fall so badly all of the sudden; last week I was getting sad that summer was almost over!  I think it was that Macy's catalog that was delivered to my house today...just seeing all those fall inspired clothes and layers made me totally change my mind and start waiting for fall to arrive.  It can't come soon enough!

As much as I want fall to come, I'm definitely still a little sad that summer is essentially over.  I move back to school in a week (!!!), and many of my friends have already moved back to school, and are actually starting classes on Monday!  I definitely need to make the most of the week of summer vacation that I have left, and do as many summer things as I can manage while still devoting a little time to packing...sigh.  I hate packing! Actually that's not true.  I actually really like packing once I get started, I just hate the process of bringing myself from a non-packing state into a packing one...it's kind of like working out.  I hate the process of bringing myself to exercise, but once I get started, I absolutely love it.  But ANYWAY.  Back to what I was saying before. Summer is almost over, and it's a little sad!  I had to make a dessert that highlighted one of my favorite summer fruits, and I figured that a cherry clafoutis was the way to go!

Mimi's Arroz con Leche {Rice Pudding}

My grandma, Mimi, was a pretty awesome lady.  I'm sure everyone says that about their grandparents, but I really mean it when I say that my grandma was a special person.  She had this way of livening up any situation that was just fantastic.  I have a lot of really good memories of my grandma when I was little.  She would always come from Colombia to stay with us in New York from late spring through mid-fall.  My grandma wasn't particularly fond of cold weather, so as soon as Halloween was over, she'd go back to Colombia (my grandma was a huge fan of Halloween.  She loved packing up all the little trick-or-treat bags with candy almost as much as she loved eating the candy inside them).  During these several months that my grandma would stay with my family, she would play all sorts of games with us, tell us all her stories about when she was growing up, pick us up from school and walk us home, and she would always spend time planting lots and lots of geraniums in my backyard.  It was great!  I don't have too many memories of my grandma cooking or spending time in the kitchen though.  My mom and everyone else in my family have assured me that she was a great cook, but I guess that by the time I came around she was ready to take a break from the kitchen.  Despite this, though, there are four dishes that I will forever associate with my grandma: her arroz con verduras (a rice with vegetables, think of something along the lines of an arroz con pollo), her rice casserole, her tuna casserole (yes, tuna casserole can be amazing), and most of all, her arroz con leche.

Out of these four things, I definitely think that her arroz con verduras and arroz con leche were the best, and the most loved by my family.  You just couldn't have a birthday celebration without a giant pot of arroz con verduras cooking away in the kitchen!   I've been eating arroz con leche my entire life; my mom used to make my grandma's recipe a lot more often, but then we started trying to be healthy (apparently, rice and milk and cream and sugar is not the most figure-friendly combination you see, but I choose to ignore this fact) so we don't get to enjoy it as much anymore.  Whenever we do make it though, it instantly sends a smile across everyone's faces, especially my dad's; he loves arroz con leche! 

Pavlova with Mixed Fruit

If there is one thing that I really, really, REALLY hate doing is unpacking.  I really just can't stand it.  I spent so much time today unpacking, it was ridiculous.  Yes, I know I moved home on Friday, and that it's been several days past that already, but I just didn't "get around" to unpacking until now.  I haven't even been busy doing very much of anything.  I've been doing a lot of nothing and a lot of Mad Men-watching, so there really just hasn't been any time left to unpack.  I've just been too caught up with other things. 

Ok, ok, ok.  Clearly the things that I have been doing instead of packing are clearly not that important.  I mean, doing nothing is actually doing "nothing," and watching Mad Men, while fun and a good way to spend time, is not exactly the most productive way I could be spending my days.  My priorities may seem to be out of place, but I think it's ok.  Just give me like a week to chill and do nothing post-final exams, and then I'll get back into super-productive mode...or I'll attempt it at least.  Take today for instance.  It may have taken me eight hours to unpack and put away two suitcases full of clothes (one of which was half full with puffy winter jackets), which seems like an unreasonable amount of time for accomplishing that sort of task, but it's ok.  My closet is unbelievably organized, with clothes sorted according to type and color coded, and my shoes neatly arranged in rows along the bottom.  My closet, in short, looks beautiful.  It was an eight hours well spent. 

Churros con Chocolate

There's something special about fried dough.  Yeah I know, that's a great way to start out this post, writing about fried dough, but it's really true.  It's just really good, and it's even better when it gets rolled around and completely covered in cinnamon sugar.  What's not to love? The calories and added fat you say?  Psh.  Indulging is totally acceptable every now and then.  I merely consider those to be irrelevant details when I fry up a batch of churros, and worry about them later.  Churros are just too good to pass up.

Cream Puffs

My mom has been making cream puffs using a recipe from a Gold Medal flour holiday recipe booklet for years.  It was just a small tiny booklet that was full of recipes designed for the holidays; it didn't have anything fancy, and it wasn't special at all really, but that was where my mom got her recipe for cream puffs, and that's the recipe we've always used.

Until I lost that little booklet...oops. 

I didn't mean to actually lose it...it's not like it was done on purpose. In fact, maybe I wasn't the person that actually lost the book.  It's entirely possible that my mom or my sister may have misplaced it.  I just happened to be the person that realized it wasn't where it always was, hence, "I lost it."  Sigh.  

Panna Cotta with Strawberry Sauce

Let me tell you about this dessert.  This is panna cotta with strawberry sauce, and it is one of my favorite desserts.  Ever.  Those are some strong words, I know, but they’re true.  This dessert is just really good.  And it can be served in individual clear glasses, which makes it fancy.  Yes, that is the defining characteristic of a fancy dessert; its ability to be served in a clear individual glass is the crucial element that brings it from everyday to something extra special. I’m clearly making that up, but that’s ok.  I like my panna cotta in clear glasses.  It just looks so pretty.

Mixed Berry "Tiramisu"

Tiramisu is one of those desserts that I had to grow into.  I never really appreciated its coffee flavor, as I have never really liked coffee, and still don’t, so it just wasn’t a dessert that excited me, or that I ever wanted to have. 

Fortunately, I grew out of that phase, and tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts.  It’s so creamy and rich, and the flavors are simply delicious.  Even that silly coffee flavor.

This is obviously not a traditional tiramisu.  Sorry if I have been leading you on.