I’m going to USA next summer and a couple of friends from Utah that I met during their international mission for their church invited me over. I made lots of desserts for them back then & they’d love to eat my tiramisu again, but asked if I can modify the recipe so it’s Mormon friendly?! What?! It’s eggs (raw), mascarpone cheese, ladyfingers, espresso, rum, sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder. Is it supposed to be vegan?

27 comments
  1. coffee. rum.

    >What?!

    ~~because asking them ‘hey can you clarify’ would have probably ended the world.~~ Anyhow. Mainly Coffee, and rum.

  2. The coffee is the problem, it’s explicitly prohibited. They have a whole bodily purity thing and caffeine is part of it

  3. I would use a well reviewed artificial rum flavoring if you don’t want to fully cut it and avoid the espresso all together and instead either bloom your coco powder or add some dutch-process coco powder in addition. That espresso flavor usually is there to enhance the chocolate so by making a more dynamic chocolate flavor you should be okay without it.

  4. You can buy espresso beans that are caffeine free.

    As for the rum, rum flavor/extract doesn’t have alcohol. I’m not sure how the recipe works, but if you’re cooking with alcohol it doesn’t matter because the alcohol component quickly evaporates when it’s heated.

  5. In my limited experience with Mormons they tend to subsist on diets of white fish with lemons and saltine crackers

  6. Hi! Mormon here. It’s the rum and espresso. We don’t do alcohol or coffee. Common misconception is that the coffee is just because of caffeine, but it’s not. You’ll find plenty of Mormons who drink caffeinated sodas or energy drinks.

    That said, as someone who likes cooking and baking, I don’t think you can actually replicate tiramisu without those key ingredients. They’re kind of the point of tiramisu. I don’t think they fully understand what they’re asking.

    Rather than stress yourself out over their requirements, it may make more sense to ask if there was something else they enjoyed or even just make a different suggestion yourself. Obviously that’s up to you, but that’s my opinion. Thanks for being willing to try, though!

  7. No alcohol and no caffeine. Just modify it.

    Make sure alcohol is cooked off in the rum, and use caffeine free coffee.

    I have plenty of Mormon friends, and while we’re not the same religion, they’re all very nice. I don’t get the Mormon-bashing in the comments. :/

  8. I would suggest to use decaffeinated espresso if that was the issue. Sounds like a cardinal sin imo, but if it makes them happy..

    No idea if that exists, but you could just use very thick (decaf)coffee instead.

  9. This is going to depend an awful lot on exactly what these particular Mormons practice, but as others have said, the most likely culprits are the espresso and the rum. Mormon dietary restrictions aren’t actually explicit in a bunch of different ways, so there’s room for individual interpretation. Contrary to popular belief, they don’t ban caffeine. They do ban tobacco and alcohol(though I had one Mormon friend tell me that they could drink wine they made themselves.) The specific bans are, I believe “strong drinks”, “tobacco”, and “hot drinks.” Strong drinks are alcohol, tobacco is rather self explanatory, and the official definition of the church of “hot drinks” is “coffee and tea.”

    But…this is all open to some degree of personal interpretation. The fact that their texts specifically reference “drinks” means some Mormons are okay with cooking with either alcohol or coffee, as at that point it’s hardly considered a drink. Some will avoid all caffeine, and others will just avoid tea and coffee. My friend I went to school with was totally okay with drinking Coke and cooking with wine. Ultimately, you’re just gonna have to ask them which bit they’d prefer not be in it.

  10. Mormons can’t drink alcohol. But if its used for food prep AND it isn’t present in the final product such as its cooked off it should be fine. Mormons definitely aren’t vegan though.

  11. Are your friends Mormons, or are they asking for it to be Mormon friendly so that they can share it with someone that is Mormon. If your friends are Mormon, why did they eat it the first time? I don’t mean that to sound rude, just asking!

  12. I’ve seen recipes with decaf espresso or hot chocolate instead of regular espresso, and rum extract flavoring instead of actual rum.

    Personally… I’d just recommend bringing a different tasty dessert that isn’t centered on coffee and alcohol.

  13. As many are saying, it’s both the espresso and the rum. For the rum, you could use an alcohol-free rum flavor. For the espresso, you could try a coffee substitute like chicory or barley for a similar taste. You’d have to experiment. (But definitely ask them how they interpret the restrictions on alcohol and coffee.)

    That said, you could also Google “mormon tiramisu” for some recipes [like this one](https://www.melskitchencafe.com/chocolate-tiramisu/). Apparently a common substitute in Utah is to use hot chocolate with alcohol-free rum flavor.

  14. Since Mormons can’t have coffee or rum, there are a few things that can be done instead 🙂

    Use very dark hot chocolate mixed at a heavier concentration replaces the coffee. Soak the lady fingers in that after slightly cooling it. Use rum extract/flavoring (idk if this is OK with Mormons…idk if it’s the flavor as well as the alcohol they can’t have) or skip the rum and add xylotol to the dip instead for the slight sweet/alcohol flavor without the issue.

    Also, look for recipes for chocolate tiramisu…that is usually what the caffine/alcohol free version is called.

  15. You may never have tiramisu again in your life. If Mormon missionaries befriended you and invited you to visit the goal is conversion to their religion, not simply have a nice visit. Just FYI.

  16. You can have all the wives and sky dads you want but get your expresso out of here

  17. Figgee is a coffee alternative that some people swear by. Maybe it’ll work? [Figgee Coffee Alternative](https://figbrew.com/products/figgee) Maybe try brewing it really strong, and add a high quality cocoa to it.

    For the rum, you can use imitation rum extract. McCormick makes one that is quite good.

    Is it going to be like real tiramisu? No. But I think you can get close.

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