We name them in almost every post of this wonderful tiramisu recipe blog (allow me a little bit of self-praising), but I never talked about them: the silent bricks of the classic tiramisu recipe. I’m talking about ladyfingers, although I prefer by far the Italian name Savoiardi. As you can imagine, today I will give you the lady fingers recipe. I don’t make them at home very often to be honest, purely for lack of time (tiramisu making is time consuming enough), but I have to say that if you get this recipe right (and you will, because it’s all quite easy) your tiramisu will get a different taste, worth trying.
Now, here are the few ingredients you will need to prepare these lady finger cookies:
160gr flour, sifted
6 yolks and 4 whites
130gr sugar
1 sachet of vanillin
Granulated and icing sugar to decorate
Break the eggs, add the yolks to a bowl and four of the whites to another (discard the other two). Add 100gr sugar and vanillin to the yolks and work them with an electric mixer or a wooden spoon. Mix until the sugar is diluted and the cream is pale and foamy.
Whip the whites until firm then add the remaining sugar, little at the time, until it’s perfectly amalgamated.
Now you’ll have to be gentle, as this is a crucial moment for this lady finger recipe. Using the wooden spoon, add the whites to the yolks, mixing with a bottom-up movement. Then add the flour one spoon at the time, and adding the next one only when completely absorbed with no lumps. Ideally, the mix you should get will be slightly inflated (it’s the air in the egg mixes, especially the whites), but firm ad the same time.
Preheat the oven at 180ºC, and line a baking tray with oven paper. Now, I didn’t mention it at the beginning, but another important element for this ladyfingers recipe is the pastry bag or sac-a-poche. The pipe should have a 1cm opening. Fill the bag with the ladyfinger cookies mix and line the tray with stripes of 10cm length each. Leave a good 4-5cm between one other, and bake for for 10-15 minutes.
Once they’re ready, let them cool on the oven paper, they will come off easily without breaking when cold.
Lady finger cookies can be easily stored in an airtight container for up to 15 days.
Ladyfingers were invented at the end of the Middle Ages (end of 15th century) at the court of Amadeus VI Duke of Savoy, a region that included partly France, partly Italy (savoiardi means from Savoia). They were created in occasion of the visit of the King of France, and now have become the most representative dessert recipe for the region of Piemonte.