Play Me a Recipe

Maman's Cookie Tiramisù

by:
November  4, 2021
5
1 Ratings
Photo by Linda Xiao
  • Prep time 3 hours 30 minutes
  • Cook time 12 minutes
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

Tiramisù—or any coffee-infused sweet—is Elisa’s go-to dessert order. To put a fun twist on this Italian classic, we swap the traditional ladyfingers for chunks of our signature nutty chocolate chip cookies. You can use any homemade or store-bought chocolate chip cookies, but if they are particularly sweet, you may need to pull back on the sugar. This tiramisù is ideal for entertaining because it’s super simple to prepare and is best made in advance—it actually tastes even better the next day!

Reprinted with permission from Maman: The Cookbookby Elisa Marshall and Benjamin Sormonte with Lauren Salkeld. Copyright ©2021. Photographs by Linda Xiao. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

This recipe was featured on our cook-along podcast Play Me a Recipe. Listen as Elisa whisks, bakes, and layers her way through this recipe. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • Maman's Cookie Tiramisù
  • 2 cups (480 milliliters) heavy cream
  • 2 cups (480 grams) mascarpone
  • 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (240 milliliters) strong brewed espresso, warm (about 6 shots; see Tip)
  • 8 Maman's Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies (see below), or store-bought chocolate chip cookies (about 30 ounces / 840 grams total)
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
  • Maman's Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies
  • 11 ounces (310 grams) dark chocolate baking wafers (such as Guittard)
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces / 225 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup (135 grams) raw unsalted macadamia nuts
  • 1/2 cup (56 grams) sliced raw unsalted almonds
  • 1/2 cup (50 grams) raw unsalted walnut halves
  • 2 1/4 cups (326 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 2 large eggs
Directions
  1. Maman's Cookie Tiramisù
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream on high until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl.
  3. In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, combine the mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla and whip on high, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the whipped cream and gently fold with a rubber spatula to combine without deflating the mixture.
  4. Pour the espresso into a wide, shallow bowl. Set aside half of 1 cookie for garnish. Break 4 of the cookies into large chunks, add them to the espresso, and let soak, flipping once, until saturated but not falling apart, 45 to 60 seconds per side. Reserve the espresso. Arrange the soaked cookies on the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) square baking pan, pressing down to create an even layer. Spread half of the mascarpone whipped cream evenly on top of the cookies. Using a small fine-mesh sieve, dust 1 tablespoon of the cocoa powder over the mascarpone whipped cream.
  5. Soak the remaining cookies in the reserved espresso. Use the soaked cookies, the remaining mascarpone whipped cream, and the remaining cocoa powder to create a second layer. Crumble the reserved half cookie and sprinkle on top of the tiramisù. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 5 days. Serve chilled.
  6. TIP: If you don’t have an espresso machine at home, brew a dark-roast coffee or use instant espresso powder. What’s important is that you don’t forgo the espresso or coffee—its flavor is essential to tiramisù. If you prefer a bolder coffee flavor, sprinkle a little instant espresso powder between the layers.
  1. Maman's Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the baking wafers, butter, macadamia nuts, almonds, and walnuts and mix on low for about 30 seconds to break down the nuts and chocolate a bit. Add the brown sugar and mix on low until the butter and sugar come together. With the mixer still running on low, gradually add the flour and salt and mix until incorporated. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition, and mix until the dough starts sticking to the sides of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and mix on low for 10 seconds more to evenly distribute the nuts and chocolate.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a large sheet of parchment paper and flatten into a square roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Fold the parchment paper to completely cover and wrap the dough, place in a resealable plastic bag, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 7 days.
  4. Set a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
  5. Divide the chilled dough into 14 equal portions (about 3½-ounces/ 100 g each) and using your hands, roll each portion into a ball. Arrange 7 balls of dough on the prepared sheet pan, spacing them about 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart, then use the palm of your hand to flatten into disks roughly ½ inch (1.25 cm) thick. Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the sheet pan as needed for even baking (see Tip) and bake until the edges are browned but the centers are still a little gooey, 6 to 7 minutes longer. Let cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes, then enjoy right away or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

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4 Reviews

festilou January 2, 2022
Very tempting. I think the cookies recipe is missing the sugar in ingredients list.
 
NightShade September 30, 2022
I did some rough calculations adding up all the other weights of ingredients in the recipe to subtract from the total weight of end product, so using ozs it looks like it needs 6 ozs of brown sugar. . . using grams it came out to between 6.8 and 6.9 ozs of brown sugar needing to be added
 
pbochek July 26, 2023
The missing sugar is 1 3/4 cups brown sugar. I googled and found it in a vogue article.
 
pbochek July 26, 2023
Link: https://www.vogue.com/article/maman-shares-their-famous-nutty-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe