Cherry, Mascarpone & Biscotti Dessert

Here’s a Valentine’s Day dessert that you will love. Layers of bittersweet cherries, creamy mascarpone cheese and crumbled almond biscotti combine in a bowl of deliciousness that is both smooth and crunchy.

In fact, don’t just keep it for Valentine’s Day – this is so good it will wow your dinner guests any day of the year.

Servings

This will make 4 individual desserts like the one shown above.

Timings

20 mins to prepare the 3 component layers in advance, then a further 5 mins to combine.

You Will Need

• 180g cherries, chopped into quarters with stones removed
• 2 tsp icing sugar
• Juice of half a lemon
• 150g mascarpone cheese
• 150g greek yoghurt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g almond biscotti
• glass tumblers to serve

Method

1. Put the cherries in a bowl with 1 tsp icing sugar and the lemon juice. Give it a good stir so that all the cherries are coated in sugary juice. Set aside for 10 mins to soak, while you prepare the rest.
2. In a separate bowl, mix together the mascarpone, yoghurt, the other tsp icing sugar and vanilla. I used an electric mixer to make sure the thick mascarpone was integrated with the thinner yoghurt.
3. Put the biscotti in a bag and crush it to rough crumbs with a rolling pin. This is fun, so give it a good bash and take out all your frustrations!
4. Steps 1 – 3 can be done well in advance of serving. My photo above shows the three component parts, ready to be layered.
5. The next steps should be taken no more than 2 hours before serving. This is so that the crushed biscotti retains its crunch and does not go soggy. Noone wants soggy biscotti.
6. Put half the crushed biscotti in a layer across the bottom of each of the glasses. Top with a layer of half of the mascarpone mix, then half the cherries.
7. Follow this with one further layer of the remaining biscotti, the mascarpone, and finally the cherries on top.
8. Serve. The layering means that as you dig down into the glass with your spoon, you mix it up and get a taste of all the parts together.

Customise It!

I am a fan of the classic taste combination of cherry and almond, hence this recipe. However, you can experiment with other types of biscuits – amaretti or biscoff would work well. Equally, you could substitute other fruit for the cherries – maybe raspberries and blueberries, or a mix of both.

Time for a Valentine’s themed track on our ADK Spotify Playlist. Here is some early Simple Minds with Love Song.