It’s officially October and cooler temps are here which means it’s time for all the pumpkin flavored things! I love a good pumpkin spiced latte as much as the next person, but I wanted to get creative with some new ideas for fall recipes. The pumpkin spiced craze has reached insane levels … I saw pumpkin flavored tortilla chips at the store today. Just a bit much for me. So, I tried to think of something where the pumpkin flavor would fit in seamlessly. And boom, it dawned on me that pumpkin would go amazingly in a tiramisu!

How to Get the Perfect Pumpkin Spice Flavors:

I would hope you’ve been lucky enough to have some tiramisu at some point in your life! It’s a fabulous Italian dessert made with strong espresso and a creamy whipped filling using mascarpone cheese. Mascarpone is similar to cream cheese in texture but more buttery and less dense in texture. In a pinch, you could replace with cream cheese but I highly recommend looking for mascarpone cheese to get the perfect texture! To get the pumpkin spice tiramisu flavor profile I was going for, I used a combination of pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, maple syrup and vanilla. These were all folded into the whipped mascarpone and cream for the perfect creamy pumpkin filling.

The Espresso:

For the coffee component, to really keep the fall flavor profile, I recommend using a pumpkin or maple flavored coffee. We brewed ours in our little Italian espresso maker, which is great for making espresso on the stovetop. Nespresso recently came out with a pumpkin flavored capsule, which could be fun to use but we didn’t want to use a bunch of capsules just for this purpose, as you’ll need a good one and a half cups of coffee. Make the coffee ahead as you’ll want it to be cool so as to not melt your whipped mascarpone and cream mixture. You can put it in the fridge or freezer to expedite this process.

The Ladyfinger Cookies:

The ladyfingers are pretty irreplaceable in a tiramisu – very difficult to get the right textures without these airy, spongy cookies. We got ours at Eataly here in Dallas (we’re a little spoiled having one so close). Several other places likely carry it near you – try your local grocer first but you might have luck at these spots too:

–World Market

–Jimmy’s Food Store if you’re in the Dallas area

–Central Market

–Amazon

If you want to be very adventurous, you can try making your own, but that was not an adventure I was ready for in making this recipe!

A note on liqueur:

Most tiramisu recipes include a coffee flavored liqueur or rum/cognac that is added in with the coffee. We opted to skip this in our recipe, just to create a recipe that can be accessible for people who prefer to skip alcohol and those that are pregnant. You can definitely add it to this recipe if that is your preference though! I recommend just a couple tablespoons to avoid overpowering the pumpkin spice flavors.

Building the Tiramisu:

The best part about tiramisu is how easy it is to make. No cooking involved, just needs refrigeration time. So after your coffee has cooled and you’ve whipped up your pumpkin cream, just start arranging your layers. Start dipping your lady fingers into the espresso and layering them for the first layer, then spread a generous amount of your filling, and repeat the process! I recommend topping with a little cinnamon or pumpkin spice over the top. Refrigerate for at least 2-3 hours or overnight and your pumpkin spice tiramisu is ready to devour! It makes a wonderful dessert for family gatherings or dinners. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and this could be great for Friendsgiving get togethers or an alternative to pie for the Thanksgiving dessert spread.

If you’re on a fall dessert kick, I highly recommend checking out our tres leches cinnamon roll cake. It’s another one of our absolute favorites!