Black Forest Semifreddo

For the cherry sauce:

Place cherries, sugar and water in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook until cherries burst and the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and cool completely.

For the cookie crust:

In a food processor, crush cookies to crumbs. Add coffee granules, both sugars and cocoa powder. Pulse for 30 seconds. Add melted butter. Pulse for about a minute. Transfer into a small bowl. Set aside.

For the semifreddo:

Line a loaf pan with a plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic hangs over both ends of the pan. That will make pulling out the finished semifreddo out easy. Spray the plastic with cooking spray.
Set aside.

Get out 3 bowls. In one bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla until pale. Set aside. In a second bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. In a third bowl, beat egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form.

Add cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture and gently fold in just a couple of times. Now, add the egg whites mixture and fold it in until everything is uniform.Do not overmix, or you will beat the air out.

Pour half of the semifreddo mixture into your lined pan. Sprinkle half of the cookie crumbs mixture over it. Top with chopped cherries. Pour the rest of your semifreddo mixture over the cherries layer. Smooth it out. Sprinkle the rest of your cookie crust over the top, pressing gently.

Cover with a plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight. Slice and serve with cherry sauce.

Recipe for semifreddo adapted from The Italian Dish blog.

Note: This dessert is made with raw eggs. It’s up to your consideration to make it.