Strawberry Nutella "Tiramisu"

Don't freak out...this tiramisu doesn't include any coffee! I did use the castoff ladyfingers from the tiramisu, though, and it is a layered dessert - so that's gonna be its official name, albeit in quotation marks. By the way, don't you love when people "misuse" quotation marks? It always strikes me as "so bizarre."

If the real tiramisu were Mount Everest, this dessert is just a little hill in my backyard. Maybe a mole hill. (Those creatures loooove our backyard. Yikes!)

Seriously, this was incredibly easy and fast - and mighty delicious, I must say. Of course, maybe I should backpedal a minute. I mean, I did use homemade ladyfingers...but since they were already made and I just pulled them out of a tupperware container, the process felt pretty speedy. Especially since I had spent several HOURS on the real tiramisu a couple of days before. Seriously, I love my husband.

Should you not have had the exact same experience as me, which resulted in leftover ladyfingers, I could imagine that substituting sliced pound cake or Angel food cake would also bring delight to your tastebuds. =)

Do you know what Nutella is? If not, it's that wonderful European hazelnut chocolate spread that the new commercials are trying to brainwash moms to think is actually healthy for their children. Don't be deceived! It may be made with skim milk, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing healthy about it. Unless you include it in a dessert that also includes strawberries, which I did, so there you go.

Here's the lowdown:

Pulled out a pretty blue ceramic dish. (Of course, yours has to be neither pretty nor blue...they are not requirements for a tasty dessert.) Layered one layer of ladyfingers in the bottom. Scattered some sliced and sweetened strawberries on top. Smeared about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup of whipped cream sweetened with a little powered sugar onto that layer. Then, Husband suggested I spread the Nutella (after he stopped and thought for a minute about whether or not Nutella and strawberries and whipped cream would go together - what? I know. It totally does. Why the hesitation?) on the bottom on the ladyfingers that would be the next layer. Good idea! It worked well. Then repeated all of the layers, ending with three layers in all. Whipped cream graced the top layer. And sifted cocoa powder (just like the real tiramisu, folks!) to make it even prettier.

Well, as I said before, it was delightful. We enjoyed it after it chilled for an hour or two, fully knowing it would be even better the next day. And, oh, it was! I don't really know how, but I had honestly forgotten there was Nutella in it when we were about to eat it the next day. And when I took a bite and the whole thing was happily melded together and the sweet hazelnut and chocolate bliss that is Nutella had hardened a bit...well, I was pleasantly shocked. I know, it sounds ridiculous.

Now, I'm going to try to give you more detailed directions for the recipe...in case someone can't really follow my vague explanation. Yes, lots of times I follow an actual recipe...but lots of other times I adapt a recipe or totally make something up, like in the case of this dessert...eyeballing the ingredient amounts, which makes it kinda hard for me to duplicate later...let alone direct someone else in how to do it. But for the purposes of this blog, I'm just gonna have to get better about that! Here's goes...

Strawberry Nutella "Tiramisu"  

Makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

Homemade ladyfingers (or a sliced Sara Lee pound cake or Angel food cake)

About 1 to 1 1/2 cup whipping cream

1-2 Tbsp. powered sugar

Not quite a quart of strawberries, stemmed and sliced

1-2 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Several Tbsp. Nutella (maybe 6-7?) 

Directions:

Sprinkle your stemmed and sliced strawberries with 1-2 Tbsp. granulated sugar and let them juice for a few minutes. Whip the whipping cream (I can't think of a better way to say that, sorry) with 1-2 Tbsp. powered sugar (to taste) until hard peaks form. Layer ladyfingers (or sliced pound cake or Angel food cake) in the bottom of your chosen medium-sized container. (Something smaller than a 9x13) Layer strawberries and their juice over the ladyfingers, then the whipped cream. Spread Nutella on the bottoms of the next layer of the ladyfingers and repeat the layering process one or two more times, ending with whipped cream on the top. Sift a small amount of unsweetened cocoa powder onto the top layer. Cover and chill the dessert for several hours or overnight. Enjoy!