marscarpone

When asparagus is on sale at Trader Joe’s right before Easter you stock up and figure out what to do with it later. Oh, that’s not what you do? I guess it’s just me. I figured I could do a lot with asparagus, from adding it to an omelet or frittata to roasting it and serving along side some chicken or beef. I knew I would use it, I just didn’t quite now how.

After a quick inventory check of fridge and freezer, I realized I had everything I needed to make a savory asparagus prosciutto tart. The perfect Spring brunch dish!

Start by blanching the asparagus by dumping the trimmed asparagus in boiling water for a few minutes then transferring to an ice bath. The asparagus will turn bright green and be slightly tender.

Prepare the puff pastry by creating a 1/2 inch border and poking holes with the tines of a fork in the center then bake until it’s slightly golden.

While the puff pastry is puffing up in the oven, make the filling. Mix together marscarpone cheese, sour cream, and egg, shallot, lemon zest, parsley, and Parmesan cheese.

Take the puff pastry out of the oven and if you see that your puff pastry has been stubborn and puffed up even where you poked holes, press it down with the back of a spoon. Spread the marscarpone mixture into the cavity that you created, leaving the border untouched.

On top, add a thin layer of prosciutto. If you really like prosciutto, knock yourself out and add more than one thin layer. Top that with the asparagus and even more Parmesan, because this thing needs more cheese.

Once the puff pastry is nice and golden brown and the asparagus is tender and slightly roasted, it is done!

I topped mine with a little bit more lemon zest and parsley. And if you read last weeks post, you know I also topped this with some creamy hollandaise sauce! The perfect condiment to go with asparagus!

If you are an asparagus lover like me, then you will find absolutely no fault with this asparagus prosciutto tart. It was absolutely delicious and the perfect brunch for Easter! It would also be great for Mother’s Day!

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I have a pretty high standard for tiramisu. My former boss was married to an Italian chef. Not just a chef who specialized in Italian cuisine, a chef who worked in Italy his entire career until he met his wife. You know he made some pretty mean tiramisu. So yeah…the bar is high.

And this is probably where I should tell you that these tiramisu cupcakes are just as good as my former boss’s Italian chef husband’s tiramisu (say that 5 times fast). Yeah…they aren’t (dude, his tiramisu is legit). But, they are pretty dang good! And just a tad easier.

Instead of ladyfingers, I made my favorite vanilla cake, which just so happens to be Trader Joe’s vanilla bean cake mix (don’t hate!). Once they were nice and cooled, I poked a couple holes into cupcakes using some left over (unused) chopsticks.

Then I poured over an espresso cream over top, which soaked right into those holes faster than I can put back a cup of coffee on Monday morning.

Next, I topped off these coffee-soaked cakes with a whipped cream-marscarpone icing. Which, as you may guess is made up of whipped cream and marscarpone cheese (and a bit of sugar, of course).

Tiramisu isn’t tiramisu without a hint of chocolate. Like traditional tiramisu, I dusted the tops of each cupcake with some cocoa powder.

Pretty easy right?! I would much rather make these tiramisu cupcakes than actual tiramisu. There’s almost no assembly required.

And if you are wondering why in the heck did I poke all those holes?

That’s why! All that creamy-coffeey (making up words over here) goodness works it’s way right down into the cupcake which makes the cakes super moist and extremely flavorful. Like having a shot of espresso along with your cake.

The best (and only) way to have a shot of espresso, in my opinion.

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Asparagus Prosciutto Tart

Tiramisu Cupcakes