Savoiardi, I know what you’re saying, why bother making them at home when they’re so easy to find in supermarkets; the Tiramisu having shot them to fame a good few decades ago now. As it happens, I didn’t find them last Saturday at my local supermarket when I had a weekend dessert in mind to make.

My reply is that they are so easy to make, with some basic piping skills, and making Savoiardi at home means you can add some flavour and spice to them. Vanilla, lemon, cocoa, coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg (I won’t go on more, you get the drift). In mine, I added the surprising ingredient of red pepper for a kind of Tiramisu cum Sundae that I’ll share in full glory in a next post. But, I thought the Savoiardi warranted their own space rather than as a syrup laden (non-photogenic) base to a sundae.

A short post then simply to share these delicious, all-purpose Savoiardi biscuits that are so useful to have in hand somewhere in a packet (bought) or homemade (do try) as a base ingredient to an impromptu dessert, or as accompanying nibbles to many a mousse or ice cream.

All images © Liz Ayling 2014

Savoiardi, ladies' fingers or langues de chat

 

Print

When you home make langues de chats, Savoiardi or ladies' fingers, then you can add a secret ingredient to flavour. These have red pepper flakes but vanilla, lemon zest or a spice are great too. Makes approx. 45 You will need a piping bag and 1cm diameter straight-edged nozzle, non-stick baking paper,and a metal baking tray.

Recipe type: Biscuits

Cuisine: French / Italian

Serves: 45

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs, separatedprint button transparent
• 50g plain four, sieved
• ½ lemon
• 125g caster sugar
• pinch of salt

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 160°C and prepare a metal baking tray with a sheet of non-stick baking paper, ready for the piped biscuit mixture.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg yolks with 25g of the sugar until they are light in colour and frothy. Add the sieved flour and a pinch of salt and continue to beat until all ingredients are well mixed. If you are adding any flavour, like nutmeg or vanilla essence, add and whisk in at this stage.
3. Place egg whites in another bowl along with the rest of the caster sugar and 1 tsp of lemon juice. With scrupulously clean beaters, whisk up the whites until they form a glossy, smooth and soft-peak meringue.
4. Using a spatula, scrape the meringue into the egg yolks and gently fold in using deep scooping movements from the bottom to top of bowl; don’t over mix otherwise you’ll beat the air out of the mixture.
5. Take a piping bag with a 1cm diameter (plain edged) nozzle. Fill the bag with mixture and pipe little ‘batons’ onto a sheet of non-stick baking paper placed on a metal baking tray. Leave around 2cm between biscuits. Sprinkle with a little caster sugar and leave to rest til the sugar dissolves – this takes around 5 mins.
6. Bake for around 15-20 minutes until firmed up and gently risen. They should be light in colour not dark golden. Cool on a wire rack. When cool, store in an air-tight tin. Use within a week.

3.2.2885