Hey lady? Where'd you get all those fingers? I know how you all feel about recipe blogs. I do, too. In fact, that's why I'm putting this one on the blog, for future reference (this is my virtual recipe box) without having to scroll past 13 advertisements and a lengthy take on how to make meringue. If you need tips on that, go here. No ads here, ever. If you click a link that takes you to Amazon, and then you buy something, I get a tiny commission, and you pay nothing extra. Thanks for that. (there are no Amazon links in this post, though. I dunno what I'd suggest you buy, this is dead simple stuff). I couldn't find ladyfingers at my local market, and didn't want to make several stops looking. So for the tiramisu I'm taking for dinner with friends, I made my own. They are simple, but not easy. Good, though!
Makes about 48 fluffy fingers.
LadyFingers, or Savoiardi
6 eggs, separated
167 g sugar
187 g pastry flour
2 tbsp cornstarch, level
1/2 tsp salt, level
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. In one immaculately clean no-trace-of-oil mixing bowl, put the egg whites. In another, put the yolks. As an aside, I highly recommend a stand mixer for this, handheld electric if not. Doing these by hand... well, you'll have great musculature and earn every bit of that cookie sample at the end for quality control. Begin beating the egg whites on high until soft peaks form. Add about half the sugar, continuing to beat, until stiff peaks form. I take this a little past pie meringue, but not so far as brittle breaks in the meringue. Switch bowls, setting this one aside.
Stiff enough there's no fold on these peaks. In the yolk bowl, combine the salt, vanilla, and egg yolks, then beat on med-high until the mixture is lighter, thicker, and somewhat fluffy (it's not like meringue, but will have aeration). This will take a few minutes, so you see what I meant about the hand mixing in this recipe.
Eggs beaten to perfection, ready to put back together. In a third bowl (also, this recipe makes a lot of dishes. Have a sink full of warm soapy water standing by if your kitchen is tiny and you can't pile things up). In another bowl, at any rate, sift together the flour and cornstarch. Fold part of the yolk mixture into the egg whites, then part of the flour, repeating until everything is in one bowl. Work carefully, being gentle, to keep the whites from collapsing. I like a rubber spatula for this. Once it's all together, transfer to a large piping bag (or gallon ziploc).
The finished savoiardi batter, ready for piping. Still a lot of air in here, which is what you need. Prep two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. You'll either cut the piping bag at the 1/2" point, or cut the corner off the ziploc, or have a 1/2" round tip for piping out broken lines of cookies. About 3" long, but I don't measure, just eyeball. You could make pencil marks on your parchment paper if you want perfection. I'll just back away slowly, now...
Give them a little space, they will spread during baking as the steam trapped in all those bubbles expands. If you want sweeter cookies you could sprinkle sugar on them before baking. I think they're sweet enough, so I didn't. Bake your little logs of cookie dough for about 15 minutes, until just golden brown. Remove from oven, but leave on the pans. They will continue to cook and dry, and you want that so you can soak up more coffee with them. Voila! Your tiramisu bones are lovely!
Now, let them sit and stale overnight before using in your tiramisu. Or freeze for later batches. This makes enough for two of my tiramisu recipes, or one giant dessert to share.