Lemon Berry Tiramisu

Don't you just love being pleasantly surprised when you order a dish at a nice restaurant and the menu description sounds good, but when the server places it in front of you, the presentation is eye-catching and then the first bite (and every bite thereafter) totally blows your expectations off the charts?!  Yeah, me too! :)

Apparently that's what happened when my brother ordered a lemon berry napoleon dessert at the Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill in Las Vegas...it made such an impression on him that he described it to Mom and me as "the best dessert I've ever eaten!"  Now that's a pretty bold statement, especially for Jon!  Haha :)  I asked him to describe it to me so I could try to re-create my own version of this delectable dessert.  I found several recipes that sounded pretty close to what he described, each with slight variations, so I decided that I would attempt to make it for him sometime soon after that...and I had good intentions of doing just that.  Except that was nearly 5 years ago now...ooooops, sorry Jon! :P  I even put a reminder on my calendar on several occasions when I knew I was going to be home for a weekend, but something always came up...I didn't have the ingredients I needed, there were already too many desserts in the house, I filled up my schedule and didn't end up having time to make it, we weren't both home at the same time, etc.

Oh, and did I mention that phyllo dough was a necessary ingredient?  Yeahhh...I even bought frozen phyllo sheets, and they stayed in my freezer for like, a year.  I don't know why the idea of using phyllo dough is so daunting to me...I'm sure it's really not bad at all.  In fact, it's probably quite simple and I just need to buck up and do it for the first time to show myself that it's not a big deal.  But alas, I was still looking for an easy way to avoid it.  So, I was thrilled to find this Lemon Tiramisu Trifle recipe from FoodNetwork.com, which includes the same lemon cream and summer berries as the napoleon recipe, but replaces the phyllo pastry with ladyfingers! Yesss!!! Now I was eager to give it a shot and see whether this variation would meet Jon's approval, so I decided to make it for the 4th of July. Ladies and gentlemen...I present "Lemon Berry Tiramisu!"

Lemon Berry Tiramisu

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 12 oz. (1 plus 1/2 pkg) neufchâtel cream cheese, softened
• 1 - 8 oz. jar lemon curd
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 packages soft ladyfingers (usually found in the bakery section of certain grocery stores)
• 3 cups mixed berries (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, & blueberries)
•  Powdered sugar (if desired)

In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, mix the lemon juice, sugar, and 1/4 cup water until the sugar is dissolved.  Set aside.

Blend together the cream cheese, lemon curd, and heavy cream with a hand mixer until smooth and somewhat fluffy.  Set aside.

To assemble the tiramisu, place half of the ladyfingers in the bottom of an 8x8 square baking dish, tearing several as needed to completely cover the bottom of the dish.  Drizzle ladyfingers with half of the lemon syrup. 

Spread half of the lemon cream over the ladyfingers...

Then, arrange 1 cup of mixed berries over the cream.  

Repeat the layers (ladyfingers - lemon syrup - lemon cream).

Cover with plastic wrap or tight-fitting lid and chill overnight.  Before serving, top with remaining berries and dust with powdered sugar, if desired.

So, the verdict?  Jon's response: "It's not quite Wolfgang Puck's, but it's still pretty d*mn delicious!"

Thanks Jon - I will take that as a compliment.  Mission (somewhat) accomplished. :)

Although I still intend to overcome my fear of phyllo dough and try to make the real thing...hopefully it won't take me another 5 years to make that happen ;)