DeLallo is a brand I didn’t think I recognized but a little bit of research showed me I have seen their brand name all over, just not in the box mix game. They started with an Italian market and now share Italian food with the community through many routes. A couple of items I found for sale on their website include charcuterie, biscotti, cookies, authentic pasta, sauces, pizza making ingredients, the list goes on and on. They also sell lady fingers and espresso powder, both crucial ingredients for a Tiramisu. If you’re like me, you might associate tiramisu with a fancy, expensive restaurant however for only $9.95 you can pick up this box mix from DeLallo, let’s see if it’s worth the price.
This Tiramisu kit contains lady fingers, espresso powder, mascarpone flavored cream mix, cocoa powder, and the tray. You really only need milk and warm water. I picked this mix up expecting a lot of work and the need to add fresh ingredients but they have included everything you need. The process starts by mixing the warm water with the included espresso powder. Then you combine the mascarpone powder and the milk. The box says to whip this for “5-6 minutes until thickened”. I used a hand held mixer like the recipe suggested and found at 3 minutes it was thickened to stiff peaks. You could easily have used a regular whisk for this and gotten in a little bit of an arm workout. Once your ingredients are ready, you start the layering process.
Layering starts with the ladyfinger cookies, dip each one quickly into the espresso until just wet and put it in the tray. These cookies soak up the espresso so quick, the less you handle them the better. I used a measuring cup for dipping which was awkward so I had to slant the cup and dip half a cookie at a time, flip it, and hope it didn’t break. Once I got the 6 bottom cookies dipped and placed in the tray I realized the tray was a little bit big almost like it had room for a 7th cookie however you are only given 12 cookies.
Next, you top the cookies with half of the cream filling and smooth it out. Finish by sprinkling half the cocoa powder on top of the cream, now repeat. While dipping the remaining 6 cookies in coffee I spilled a bit on the counter and ran out of coffee mixture before all were dipped. I was going to make homemade espresso to make up the difference but remembered I had espresso powder on hand for a brownie recipe and on the package it says “perfect for tiramisu” and then I realized it is actually DeLallo branded and likely exactly what I just spilled on the counters. I made the extra espresso, dipped all the cookies and layered them with cream and topped it with the remaining cocoa powder.
After chilling for a few hours, I sliced the tiramisu up into 6 servings. Originally I thought it looked too small and I only expected three 3 servings so I started by cutting it into 3 pieces but found those were pretty large and settled on 6 slices like the recipe suggested. It cut very nicely and had a pretty cross section. It wasn’t quite fancy restaurant style visually but taste-wise it absolutely was. The combination of the strong espresso with the super sweet cream was perfectly complimentary. The texture combination of the soaked cookies that were almost cake like with the soft fluffy cream was fantastic. This felt like a fancy dessert on a cheap budget. However, $10 for a box mix isnt cheap but considering how good the dessert is and how they provided everything you could possibly need, I think it’s a fair price. The process to make this dessert wasn’t hard or even time consuming but they conveniently put everything together in a box for the most efficiency. When I need another tiramisu, I will absolutely be picking this mix up again.
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