Last Sunday I had to take a little trip back to Italy... in a sense.

Our family friends are housing a foreign exchange student from Milan for the year, so they came over and we did a little cooking!
Made stuffed mushrooms, bruschetta, and stuffed tomatoes to snack on, and for the main course... Tiramisu.

Why didn't know how easy it was to make?! If you love tiramisu like I do, or just want an easy, impressive dessert here it is

Expresso Syrup-
1/3 cup water
1/2 c sugar
2/3 c espresso
1/4 c Brandy or Dark Rum
Mascarpone Filling-
1 1/2 c heavy whipping cream
1/3 sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 pound Mascarpone cheese (softened to room temp)
Ladyfingers or pound cake

Espresso syrup- combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring to until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool and add coffee and brandy.

Filling- whip cream with sugar and vanilla until soft peaks form. Fold cream into softened mascarpone.

Assemble- ladyfingers or sponge cake slices in the bottom of a shallow 2-quart dish. Pour 1/2 syrup over. Spread with 1/2 filling. Repeat. ladyfingers.. syrup.. filling. cover and put in fridge...Wait 24 hours. bad news, i know. but so worth it! We shaved dark chocolate on top for a little