I Tiramis-You...

Okay guys, I'm super excited about this recipe. This is a bit of a departure from the rest of the Holiday Survival dessert recipes. Instead of cookies or candies, tonight I have Tiramisu Brownies for you! This recipe combines a low carb, fudgey brownie recipe with a ricotta custard topping. I will admit that the ricotta custard was a complete experiment... you can see what I thought of how it came out.

Totally not licking the bowl clean....

You may have noticed that I usually use egg substitute in my cooking instead of regular, whole eggs. This is just a personal preference in how things fit into my diet. However, with this recipe, you need whole eggs as you'll be separating the yolks to use in the ricotta custard. Trust me that egg substitute won't work here: it ends up making it taste very very eggy, in an unpleasant way.

Both the brownie batter and the custard include alcohol. If you prefer, you can always remove these and replace them with extracts. For the custard you'd need about 1 tablespoon of rum extract and for the brownie batter you'd need 1 tablespoon of coffee extract. Because the brownie batter comes out super thick (much more of a cookie dough than a batter), you can also opt to add additional espresso. You will just need to adjust the baking time but it shouldn't alter it too much (an extra 2-3 minutes I imagine.)

Tiramisu Brownies 

Missing: butter, egg substitute, vanilla stevia, salt

Ricotta custard

• 7 egg yolks
• 1 cups baking splenda
• 2 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup spiced rum
• 8 oz fat free ricotta
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 Tbsp liquid vanilla stevia

 

Brownie batter

       Wet ingredients:

• 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate
• 1/2 cup espresso
• 1/4 cup espresso vodka
• 1/2 cup kerry gold butter
• 1/2 cup egg substitute or two eggs

      Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups baking splenda
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp flax meal
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• dash of salt 

 Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8x8 baking pan with cooking spray and dust with almond flour.

1. Whisk egg yolks, splenda, rum and heavy whipping cream in bowl of double boiler. Place pan over simmering water. Cook, whisking constantly for approximately 2 minutes or until mixture is thickened to yogurt like viscosity then remove from double boiler set up. Save the pot of water for use with brownie batter.
2. Add ricotta to the bowl of custard mixture and whisk well until everything is well combined.
   Set aside and allow to cool while you work on the brownies.
3. Sift all dry ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Because of the almond flour, you will need to use your fingers or a spoon to help everything push through the sieve.
4. In a large mixing bowl, add all wet ingredients except eggs. Place the bowl on your pot of hot water. Turn heat on under pot of water again and begin melting chocolate. The fat from the butter will separate as it all melts, but that's okay! When everything is melted, remove from heat.
5. Using a hand mixer, slowly incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Add eggs once all dry ingredients are mixed in. Continue mixing with hand mixer until one cohesive batter is formed
6. Spread batter into prepped baking pan, making sure you have one even layer.
7. Sprinkle the top of your batter with 2 tbsp of chocolate chips. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes*. Set aside to cool.
8. Once brownies reach room temperature, spread your ricotta custard mixture over the top. Place entire pan in the fridge for 1-2 hours or until well set.
9. Before serving, sprinkle the top with unsweetened cocoa powder and remaining 2 tbsp of chocolate chips.

*When you remove the brownies from the oven, they will seem under-cooked. They will set up as they cool, but this "under-cooked" texture is essential for the eventual fudgey texture.