Savoiardi and late night baking

Saturday night this week is Italian Night for me and the girls. I love cooking for people, and throwing dinner parties that are about more than just the food on the table. The menu for this weekend is a dish of antipasti, followed by garlic bread/dough balls, lasagne, green salad and then a hazelnut tiramisu.

I used to buy Schar Savoiardi when I saw them but they haven't popped up on my shopping circuit for a long time.  Whilst I could buy them online, the postage costs were more than the price of the biscuits themselves so I started looking around for a recipe.

It turns out they are very easy to do. What put me off and made it more daunting was the fact you had to pipe the biscuits. Piping isn't something I'm particularly practiced at or familiar with so I prevaricated about making them, until late last night where, after feeling like I'd not really achieved much I decided to get off the fence and just do it.

This is the recipe I used this recipe but just in case it disappears I'm posting the details here too.

Savoiardi sponge fingers (aka. Ladyfingers)

Recipe from Le Cordon Bleu at Home, via The Daring Kitchen.
Makes around 35 2cm x 8cm fingers

3 eggs, separated
75g sugar
95g gluten-free plain flour
50g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 175C. Line 2 baking trays with paper.

In a clean, grease-free bowl, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and keep beating until the egg whites become stiff, glossy and smooth.  In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks with a fork. Fold the egg yolks into the egg white.

• Sift over the flour and fold in gently until just combined.
• Fill a piping bag/ziploc bag with the batter and snip off the end to create a 2cm wide nozzle. Pipe 8-10cm strips, leaving about 2cm of space in between each strip to allow for the fingers to expand.
• Dust half of the icing sugar over the strips, wait for 5 minutes (the sugar will become moist and glisten) then dust with the remaining sugar.
• Bake the biscuits for 10 minutes, rotate the trays, then bake for another 5 minutes or until the fingers have puffed up and become light brown.
• Take the fingers out of the oven and cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. The cooled biscuits can keep in an airtight container for 2-3 weeks.
• (Note: This makes soft biscuits. If you want the crispier sort, turn the oven down to 120C after the 15 minutes and bake for a further10-20 minutes until hard and crispy.)