Replies

STRAWBERRY TIRAMISU

1 1/2 (8 oz.) pkgs. light cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 c. icing sugar
7 tbsp. Marsala (Italian dessert wine)
1/2 c. sour cream
1 pt. ripe strawberries
3/4 c. boiling water
2 tbsp. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder or instant coffee
2 1/4 (approximately) 3.5 oz. pkgs. lady finger style cookies
1 oz. bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semi-sweet chocolate, grated

Blend cream cheese, icing sugar and 5 tablespoons Marsala in processor until smooth. Mix in sour cream. Slice 1/2 of strawberries; cut all remaining strawberries in half.
Combine boiling water, 2 tablespoons sugar and espresso powder in medium bowl; stir to dissolve. Mix in remaining 2 tablespoons Marsala. Dip one lady finger briefly into espresso mixture, turning to coat.

Place flat side up in bottom of 8 inch square GLASS baking dish with 2 inch high sides. Repeat with enough lady fingers to cover bottom of baking dish, trimming biscuits to fit.

Spread 2/3 of cream cheese mixture over lady fingers. Cover with sliced strawberries. Dip more biscuits into espresso mixture and arrange atop sliced strawberries in dish, covering completely and trimming to fit.

Spread remaining cream cheese mixture over. Sprinkle with grated chocolate. Arrange halved strawberries around edge of pan. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours until set. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead). Cut into squares and serve.
Serves 4-6

From Cooks.com

When I was a kid, we had clam bakes in upstate NY every 4th of July. My grandfather and uncles would take the train down to Fulton Street and return with burlap sacks full of clams, oysters, lobsters, crabs and seaweed on the third of July, while we dug out a pit and gathered hardwoods and stones for the pit. (The stones were round granite with no streaks of quartz or any other silicate so they wouldn't explode in the heat....same as in Hawaii but here we have blue rock which is basalt.)

Into the pit went seaweed, chicken and corn from our farms, seaweed again, some of the clams for steamers, more seaweed, then lobsters and crabs. The oysters and the rest of the clams were dished out on the half shell......while waiting out the bake.

And for all that toil digging and firing the pit, I never got a cold beer!

(Well.....actually I did but don't tell anyone....ok?)