Ladyfingers

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Delicate, soft, spongy, Ladyfingers are the base that elevates and transforms desserts like trifles, tiramisu, or any layered treat you come up with. They are also light and delightful with a cup of tea or coffee. And let me tell you, once you make homemade ladyfingers, you won’t ever want the store-bought ones again!

The following recipe is simple and yields enough of these finger shaped sponge cookies for a large dessert or several mini ones. If you can stop snacking on them long enough to assemble your dessert, that is! Bea and Tilly gobbled up a third of my ladyfingers just while I was taking pictures. Kids absolutely love these cute cakes. And I love that these are “healthier” cakes since they contain zero dairy and only a bit of sugar. In fact, these light and airy cookies are made with only a few ingredients. All you need is cake flour, cornstarch, eggs, sugar, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. A dusting of powdered sugar finishes them off.

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Ladyfingers (Savoiardi)

Ladyfingers are also known as sponge fingers, Savoiardi or savoy biscuits, and Boudoir  biscuits or Naples Biscuits. They are essentially a delicate, dry sponge cake that is shaped like a lady’s finger, hence the name.

These sponge biscuits trace back to The House of Savoy in 11th Century France. They were used in elaborate cakes for the courts of Versailles, as they still are today. These little cakes are used for fancy French and Italian pastries such as the beautiful Charlotte, Tiramisu, and trifles.

I will be using a batch of these Ladyfingers on my next “Show Me St. Louis” appearance on May 17th for the Red, White, and Blue Berry Trifles I’m making. I will edit this post afterwards to include the link to that Memorial Day Trifle Recipe.

How To Make Homemade Savoy Biscuits

Being such versatile cakes, these sponge biscuits can be used in a variety of desserts. They are simple to make and can be stored in an airtight container for a couple of weeks at room temperature.

To make these ladyfingers use either a mold or a piping bag fitted with a half inch round tip.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, if not using the mold.

This is a 3 step recipe.

Separate your egg yolks and whites and put each into bowls. You will be whipping them each.

The first step to making these ladyfingers is to use a stand mixer on medium high speed to whip up your egg yolks with half of the sugar. Add the vanilla extract, pinch of salt, and lemon juice. Let this whip until pale, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile. in a clean bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in the leftover sugar and whip on medium high speed until stiff peaks form.

Then sift the cake flour and corn starch over your egg yolk mixture. Then add half of the egg white mixture and fold it until just incorporated. Fold in the rest of the egg whites. Then immediately fill the piping bag. Pipe out rows of the ladyfingers, leaving room for them to puff and spread a bit. I pipe out about 12 to a large baking sheet.

Sprinkle on powdered sugar. Then bake for about 10-15 minutes, until getting browned. Then cool for 2 minutes on parchment before gently peeling each cookie off to a rack. Sprinkle with more powdered sugar.