Savoiardi or ladyfingers
( Savoiardi )

Savoiardi or ladyfinger recipe

Preparation and cooking

Get everything you need ready, in addition to the ingredients. Some stages of processing have to be very fast.
You'll need:

• - two bowls: you have to beat egg yolks with sugar and then add this mixture to all-purpose flour in the first. You'll need the second bowl to whip egg whites.
• - an electric whisk to whip egg whites and possibly beat egg yolks too, to speed up
• - a sieve to sift flour that must be added to your yolk-and-sugar mixture
• - a syringe or pastry bag with a flat and large nozzle
• - baking pans: grease them with butter and sprinkle with flour before starting the recipe. Surely someone of you will object it would be better to use baking paper to reduce fat. In this case my experience teaches me it is better to use traditional methods. Savoiardi (ladyfingers) tend to stick to the baking paper and then you can risk breaking them.
• - Prepare biscuit dough.
  Separate whites from yolks.
  Work yolks with 80g sugar.
  Beat by hand or with an electric whisk until creamy and smooth.
  Now take flour and, after adding a pinch of salt and sifting, incorporate it gradually to your yolk-and-sugar mixture. Stir accurately and gently. Put apart.
  Add a pinch of salt and 10g icing sugar to whites. Whip them until stiff.
  Add them to the mixture with slow movements, from bottom to top, to prevent whipped whites go runny.
  At the end you must have a soft and puffy mixture.
• - Spread biscuit dough on baking pans.
  Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
  As mentioned use pans, greased and floured before.
  Pour your dough into a pastry bag and distribute it in sticks, 10cm (4in) long and 2 to 3cm (wide. Space them out to prevent sticking while cooking.
  Mix remaining sugar (10g) with icing sugar (10g) and sift this mixture lightly on savoiardi surface. Repeat after a few minutes and then bake.
  Usually I prepare a first pan and dust my biscuits with this sugar mixture. Then I work on the second pan and distribute the dough on this. At this point I dust again the first biscuit set and bake.
  Meanwhile I sprinkle the surface of the second biscuit set and eventually prepare a third pan waiting for the first one. Never let the biscuit dough rest for a long time out of the oven. Whipped whites tend to go runny quickly.
• - The last step.
  Bake but check cooking frequently. Cooking times are very short.
  I usually check my savoiardi after just six minutes without opening the oven door. Six minutes may already be enough. The average time, however, is around 8 minutes. Longer times result in more colorful edges.
  But obviously this is an indication. Much depends on the oven you have at home and cookie thickness.
  Let them cool thoroughly before removing with a spatula and placing on a serving plate.

Just before serving

• - Serve homemade savoiardi on a serving plate after covering it with a table cloth as you can see in the photo.

Note

Tips

• - You'll need few, natural ingredients for homemade savoiardi: sugar, all-purpose flour and eggs.
  Making the savoiardi at home means to choose the ingredients you prefer, included organic ones.
  Do not expect to get thick cookies like the ones you are used to buy.
  But the taste is different: they taste fantastic!
• - You'll have 30 to 35 savoiardi with these doses.
• - As you can see on the photo my savoiardi are not too long and thin. My husband and I prefer them in this way to taste them better!

Menu planning

• - Prepare savoiardi to eat as snacks ... together with hot chocolate? what about this idea? Don't use them to prepare other sweet things such as tiramisù. Savoiardi from confectionery industry are great for making such elaborate desserts.
• - It could be a wonderful idea to make savoiardi (ladyfingers) for a birthday party for your children. Serve homemade savoiardi for breakfast (not dipped in milk and coffee or tea, however, these cookies are not ideal) or as snack with hot chocolate.

Healthy eating

• - Each portion includes about 8 savoiardi that aren't few biscuits ;))
• - Savoiardi from confectionery industry are low in fat and calories. It's the other reason why I suggest to buy ready-to-use savoiardi for making the sweets I've just listed above.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Savoiardi or ladyfingers "?

My husband and I pair Asti Moscato (sweet wine of Piedmont) to savoiardi.

A little history

• - Italian savoiardi date back to the fourteenth century when the Duke of Savoy, Amedeo VI, created them in honor of the King of France on the occasion of his visit. Then the recipe spread across Italy and now there are a lot of recipes: savoiardi or lady fingers of Piedmont, Sardinia, Sicily and Marches ... read more on Savoiardi from Piedmont to Sicily