Tiramisu is one of those dishes that seems terribly difficult, and I’ll be honest — the first time I made it, it was a pile of delicious mess. That was a few years ago, however, and I learned from my mistake — which was, of course, soaking the lady fingers for too long. It only takes a moment. Dip, flip and drip. If you can find fresh lady fingers in your bakery, great — but be even more cautious when soaking those than the crunchier ones from the cookie aisle. They are much faster to turn soggy.

When Ian picked up some Young’s Double Chocolate Stout at the Natural Living Center recently, I was struck by the inspiration to reduce it down and use it in a tiramisu, for which I had already picked up some ladyfingers and mascarpone. It also gave me an excuse to drag out my espresso machine and clean it up — it hadn’t been used since before Ian and I moved in with each other.

Chocolate Stout “Beeramisu”

4 shots of espresso

1 can chocolate stout

1 splash each triple sec, coffee liqueur and creme de cacao

8 oz mascarpone cheese

1 c sugar

1 c heavy cream

20 lady fingers

powdered cocoa to top

In a small saucepan, reduce espresso and chocolate stout by half. Remove from heat and add liqueurs. In a bowl, beat together sugar and mascarpone, then add cream and whip until fluffy. Dip ladyfingers in beer/coffee/liqueur mixture, then place in the bottom of a glass pan. Cover with a layer of the cream mixture, then add another layer of ladyfingers, another layer of cream, and so on until all lady fingers and mascarpone mixture are used up. Top with a dusting of powdered cocoa and refrigerate overnight.