SAVOIARDI BISCUITS

Wow! That's all I can say really, simply WOW! These are by far the nicest biscuits I have made in a while. I am not a biscuit eater and when I make some it is mainly for my children. But then I tend to stick to chocolate chip cookies or gingerbread ones. A couple of weeks ago I was browsing the web looking for an inspiration and I found it - a recipe for ladyfingers which looked too good to be true. Eggs, some sugar and flour and in less than 30 minutes you have savoiardi biscuits ready?! I mean, come on! Surely this wasn't possible?! I had to give this recipe a go. The original recipe can be found here. Why I like savoiardi? Because I LOVE tiramisu. It is my greatest indulgence ever. I made one last weekend and will blog about it over the next few days. You always need good savoiardi biscuits to have  a great tiramisu. So step one: make the savoiardi yourself!
Here we go:

This recipe makes about 24 ladyfingers

3 eggs
67 gr granulated sugar
1tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt
64gr plain flour
30-50gr icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Lay parchment, silicon mat or baking paper on couple of trays.
Separate the eggs. Add the sugar, vanilla essence and salt to the yolks. Beat with a mixer until thick, pale and fluffy, probably around 3-4 minutes. In another bowl beat the egg whites until thick and stiff, peaks should stay firm. Depending on your mixer this can take anything from 3 to 7 minutes. Add the egg whites to the egg yolks in 3 batches, mixing slowly with a rubber spatula or a metal spoon. Wooden spoon will knock the air out. (I have no idea why, but that's what all great chefs say. I tend to listen.) Gently sieve the flour over the mix and slowly fold it in until it is all smooth.
Get a piping bag (I did not use a nozzle). Fill up the bag, cut the end off and pipe the biscuits onto the prepared trays. Dust well with icing sugar and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

The sugar is instantly absorbed and the biscuits start to shine. Dust with icing sugar again and put in the oven straight away. The second time you dust them the sugar will stay on top.

Bake for about 13-15 minutes until they are a nice golden brown colour on top.

Transfer to a cooling rack straight away and serve immediately.





You can store them in an airtight container for a couple of days.
I was surprised with the result - they were pure heaven. So lovely, light and melting in the mouth... I only had 2! I had to dip the second one in my coffee to see how it is holding the liquid - after all I am making another tiramisu on Sunday and I will be using my homemade ladyfingers!
Easy, simple, delicious. Is all I'm saying. What do you think?

XoXo
Desi in the Kitchen