I have all my side of the family coming over to our house for dinner this Christmas Eve so it will be loud, chaotic and very Maltese. Hence, I wanted to try and keep it simple food wise, so I plan to make a couple of one dish wonders yet again. There will be Timpana for the carnivores and a huge Spanakopita for the two token vegetarians, although I'm sure some of the meat eaters will no doubt dive head first into the spanakopita as well. I have put my sister on 'salad duty' so she is going to make a large fattoush and my sister in-law is on 'fruit duty' which basically means that she will bring cherries, mangoes, berries and a load of cheese.

For dessert I wanted to make something summery and festive so I decided to make a tiramisu of sorts with layers of fresh raspberry purée and zabaglione, yet instead of using the traditional Marsala I used Grand Marnier. I also added some fresh mascarpone to the zabaglione and then folded through some melted white chocolate for good measure.

Then on Christmas day we will have a traditional roast dinner with the Australian in-laws, well not that traditional as I'm going to make roast chicken instead of turkey. But there will be Yorkshire puddings to mop up our gravy with and a huge plum pudding (store bought) with homemade custard. I intend to drench the plum pudding with brandy sauce and then set it a light, in the hope of impressing the mother in-law.

Fingers crossed everyone as I hope to make it through to the festive season with my eyebrows in tact!

Raspberry & White Chocolate Tiramisu with Grand Marnier

It would be better if you were to make this the day before you intend to serve it so to allow the savoiardi biscuits to soften and the mixture set. I used a large trifle dish that is approximately 20cm in diameter and 11cm deep.


For the Zabaglione

10 organic egg yolks

5 tbsp of caster sugar

200ml Grand Marnier

500g Mascarpone

300ml thick cream

200g white chocolate, melted (I used Greens & Black)


For the Raspberry Purée

800g of fresh/frozen raspberries

100g caster sugar

100ml water


And

300g savoiardi biscuits



Method

1. Place the raspberries in a food processor and blend them into a purée. Strain the purée through a sieve and discard the seeds. Make a syrup with the sugar and water. Once the syrup is cool add it to the purée and set aside.


2. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. When the mixture is tepid add the Grand Marnier and whisk for another five minutes or until it has thickened. Gently fold the cream, melted chocolate and mascarpone into the egg, sugar mixture.

3. Arrange the savoiardi biscuits in a single layer in the bottom of a trifle dish (about 20cm in diameter and 11cm deep) covering the bottom completely. Ladle a layer of the raspberry purée evenly over the savoiardi biscuits. Using a spatula then spread a layer of the zabaglione over the layer of raspberry purée. Repeat layering of savoiardi biscuits, raspberry purée and zabaglione three more times ending with a layer of zabaglione.

4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.