This vegan tiramisu is easy to make yet quite delicious. The "mascarpone" is made from vegan cream cheese mixed with agar and ends up having the perfect texture and taste. Vanilla wafers are used instead of lady fingers, which are difficult to find in vegan form; this ends up working quite well (although feel free to substitute vegan lady fingers for the wafers if you have them).
"Mascarpone"
- 1/4 cup vegan creamer or cream (plain Silk creamer works)
- 1 tablespoon agar (available at most health-food stores and Asian markets)
- 1 container vegan cream cheese
- 1/4 cup vegan sour cream
- 2 tablespoons Amaretto (or use 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract in a pinch)
The rest
- 1 cup espresso
- 3 tablespoons Amaretto (or 2/3 teaspoon of almond extract in a pinch)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 1 box of vegan vanilla wafers (generic store-brand wafers work the best)
Instructions
Bring the creamer/cream to a gentle boil. Mix in agar. Cool. Mix this with the cream cheese, sour cream, and the two tablespoons of Amaretto. Refrigerate for two hours.
Mix the espresso, three tablespoons of Amaretto, and sugar.
After the cream-cheese mixture has set, it is time to assemble the tiramisu. Using about a third of the vanilla wafer, individually dip (don't soak!) the wafers into the espresso mixture and then place them on a plate to form the base layer. Spread about one-third of the cream-cheese mixture on top of this layer. Repeat for the two remaining layers. Optionally sprinkle lightly with cocoa or ground chocolate. Refrigerate for one hour. Serve.