Diet Killers: Recipes for Readers – Sal and Laurie’s Tiramisu by Molly MacRae

 

Welcome back to Diet Killers, a monthly post where we delve into good stories and books and pair them with indulgent recipes involving chocolate. Let’s start the new year out right with a helping of humor and heart provided by Debra Goldstein. Goldstein, who writes cozy and traditional whodunits, has given us numerous short stories and the stand-alone mystery novels Should Have Played Poker and Maze in Blue. She also writes the Sarah Blair Mysteries – a wonderful series starring culinarily challenged sleuth Sarah Blair. Goldstein and her protagonist, Blair, share a fear and a favorite:

What’s more frightening than tripping over a dead body? Finding themselves in a kitchen.

What are their favorite cookbooks? The I Hate to Cook Book by Peg Bracken and Peg Bracken’s Appendix to the I Hate to Cook Book (also by Peg Bracken).

Astonishing, then, that the five Sarah Blair books are, in fact, culinary mysteries. How can that be? Because of course Goldstein is far more than the sum of her fears—she’s an excellent writer. If you haven’t read her books, make that a New Year’s resolution. And here's some great news: With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a new anthology of Goldstein's short stories, comes out February 3rd from White City Press, an imprint of Mistie Media, LLC.  

Here’s an excellent recipe for tiramisu. It only calls for a dusting of cocoa over the top so, if you’re in a darker mood (like some of Goldstein's short stories), add a liberal sprinkling of bittersweet chips or shavings. Above all, don’t be afraid of this recipe. It’s dead easy. 

Sal and Laurie’s Tiramisu

From Simple Recipes for the Sometime Sleuth: Convenience Cooking from the Pages of the Sarah Blair Mysteries by Debra H. Goldstein. 

Ingredients

3 egg yolks

7 tablespoons powdered sugar

2 tablespoons rum

Brew 4 cups strong coffee

500 gm mascarpone

2 packs ladyfingers

1⁄2 of a large container of Cool Whip

Cocoa for sprinkling as topping/garnish

Directions

Add 2 tablespoons of the sugar to the egg yolks and mix until the color of the mixture becomes whiteish.

Add the mascarpone and mix for five minutes.

Add the rum, remaining 5 tablespoons of powdered sugar, and the Cool Whip. Mix

thoroughly.

Using the coffee completely cooled, dip the ladyfingers in the coffee quickly, without soaking them.

Layer them in a dish and cover them with the above cream mixture.

Dip more ladyfingers into the coffee and layer them over the cream mixture.

Apply another layer of cream.

Sprinkle with cocoa and cool in the refrigerator.

Bonus! Download your very own copy of Simple Recipes for the Sometime Sleuth from Goldstein's website.