Savoiardi – Italian Lady Fingers

Italian Lady Fingers or better known as Savoiardi, are cookies that are traditionally used for tiramisu or just eaten as a snack. Most recipes for these cookies have you seperate the eggs and fold in the egg whites at the end, which can be very time consuming and you end up with an extra bowl to clean. I decided to make these cookies when I was on The Great American Baking Show to accompany my goat cheese pot de cremes with a balsamic honey glaze for my Signature Bake during the Semi-Finals. I knew that time and ease of preparation would be a factor and making them the traditional way was not an option. So of course I began to think out of the box. For my recipe I whipped together the whole eggs, granulated sugar and vanilla extract for 10 minutes. I found that this incorporated enough air and volume that you would normally get by whipping the egg whites. All I had to do was add the sifted flour and baking powder and fold it into the whipped eggs. Easy peasy!!

Hope you give this method a try!

TIPS FOR SUCCESS:

Drawing the lines on the parchment paper, 4″ apaprt with 1″ in between, wil help to keep your ladyfingers all the same length. I recommend using a pencil and turning thepaper over so that the batter does not come in contact with the pencil. See images below.

Savoiardi – Italian LAdy Fingers

Soft or crisp cookioes, depending on how long you bake them, traditionally used to make tiramisu.

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Whole Large Eggs
  • 100 Grams Granulated Sugar ½ Cup
  • ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
  • 140 grams All Purpose Flour
  • ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 25-36 Grams Granulated Sugar for sprinkling before baking 2-3 Tablespoons

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350° F or 175° C.
  • On a piece of parchment paper that fits a half sheet pan, draw lines 4” apart with 1” between each set of lines.
  • In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla for 10 minutes.  It will have tripled in volume and be pale yellow in color.
  • Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift in the flour and baking powder.
  • Using a rubber spatula gently fold in the flour.
  • Place the mixture in a pastry bag with a 1/2” plain tip and pipe the cookies into 4” strips.
  • Lightly sprinkle the tops of each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon of granulated sugar.  Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes.
  • After the 5 minutes sprinkle again with sugar and immediately place in your preheated oven on the middle rack of your oven.
  • Bake for 12 minutes if you would like soft lady fingers.
  • Bake 18 minutes for a crispy ladyfinger that you can use to make Tiramisu.
  • Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Peel them off the parchment paper and place them directly on a rack to cool completely.