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Friday, January 27, 2012

Savoiardi/ Ladys Fingers



I'll tell you what this is not.


This is not some fancy-shmancy post about some exquisite food item.
It wont take you hours and hours to make and use up a million ingredients.
These are not French macarons.You know,fussy,moody and haughty.
These little cookies are simple,plain-jane and yet not so ordinary.
Because as I've been learning lately,
Sometimes we're so busy running after the french macarons in life,that we completely fail to see the savoiardis.

And then before you know it, just when you least expect it, life will smack you in the face.

Savoiardis are little Italian cookies. They're also sometimes called Ladys Fingers.(I have no idea why. I'm sure whichever lady's fingers were shaped like THAT would never have wanted to have a cookie named after them!! :P) And in Germany they're called Loffelbiskuit which means Spoon Biscuit.

If you're a fan of Tiramisu you're familiar with Savoiardi.
These are what are traditionally soaked in the coffee Liquor and layered between the light,fluffy Cream cheese mixture.

I was'nt planning to make these. Let me tell you what happened.
This week's Bakery class in college required us to make Tiramisu.
However,the college version uses Chocolate Sponge cake in between the layers. Not even the moist,happy kind.

I was not happy. I take offense to things like that. I mean, C'mon how much longer is it going to take to to make the actual Savoiardis.
Yes, I'm stubborn like that.
I would not have it.
No.

So I convinced the Bakery teacher to let me make my own batch of Savoiardi(which I had never made before) to  make the tiramisu.
He(surprisingly) said yes :)

Here's the recipe:

Savoiardi
Makes about 36 fingers.

3 Eggs (Seperated)
100 gms     Icing Sugar + Extra for sprinkling(Sifted)
 35gms        Granulated Sugar
100 gms     Refined Flour
50gms        Cocoa Powder(for Sprinkling)


Method:

  • Preheat the oven to 190'C. Line a baking sheet with a silpat and set aside.
  • In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites till foamy.Gradually ,add the sifted Icing sugar and continue to whisk until the meringue forms stiff and glossy peaks.

  • In a seperate bowl,Whisk together the egg yolks and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy.
  • Fold in the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites .
  • Next,gently fols in the Refined flour mixture into the egg mixture in 3 parts,swiftly but gently.Fold until there are no streaks remaining,but make sure not to use too much force,or you will deflate the egg mixture.
  • Pour the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large Savoy nozzle and pipe out about 3inchesx 1 inch each.
                                 
  • Dust with cocoa powder and icing sugar through a seive and bake for about 10 minutes.
  • Cool at room temperature and then store in an airtight container.

 


  • If you want the cookies to be slightly more crispy,do not dust with icing sugar before baking and dry out in the oven for 5-7 min longer at 100'C.

                                     

I was extremely happy with how these turned out and ended up making a whole cake tin of tiramisu :)




I'll post that recipe soon!!










 



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