I have mentioned this in the past, but I am really not much of a baker. While I say that (and believe it), I have found myself doing more baking lately than I’m used to. Some people are really happy when they bring out their electric mixer. Me, I get apprehensive. In baking you have to be exact. I am not really an exact kind of guy. In baking, my teaspoons are leveled. In cooking, I just estimate at what looks like a teaspoon.
This quarter’s Gourmet Club dinner’s theme was Italian. My assignment, dessert. I decided on a two-pronged approach. The first was Cannoli which I have already featured on the blog. The other desert was……nope. Can’t reveal it quite yet (look for it tomorrow). You might get a good guess as it is an Italian dessert that needed ladyfingers.
The first run-through of the dessert I bought firm ladyfingers. While they worked OK, the texture was off and they didn’t soak up any of the other flavors. I knew I needed to make ladyfingers.
OK. They are not uniform and not overly pretty. They were not visible in the desert, so I didn’t really take care in making them uniform.
There are only four simple ingredients.
Separate the yolks and egg whites.
Beat the egg whites and some sugar.
Beat the yolks and fold in the egg whites.
Two trays of piped lady fingers.
Ladyfingers
Servings: 3 – 4 dozen |
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs, separated
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 7/8 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line two 17 x 12 inch baking sheets with baking parchment. Fit large pastry bag with a plain 1/2 inch round tube.
2. Place egg whites in bowl and beat on high until soft peaks start to form. Slowly add 2 tablespoons of the sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy. In another bowl beat egg yolks and remaining sugar. Whip until thick and very pale in color.
3. Sift flour and baking powder together on a sheet of wax paper. Fold half the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in flour, and then add the remaining egg whites. Transfer mixture to pastry bag and pipe out onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes.
Nutritional Info:
Total Fat: 0.4g Cholesterol: 18mg Sodium: 11mg Total Carbs: 4.6g Dietary Fiber: 0.1g Protein: 0.8g
Rantings of an Amateur Chef 
I think you might be making my ALL.TIME favorite tomorrow …. anxiously awaiting to see!!!
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How did they turn out? You can’t share gorgeous-looking cookies and then NOT tell us how they tasted!
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Wow, I never thought to make lady fingers from scratch! This looks so simple and great for tiramisu! Thanks for sharing!
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I like your committment to getting things just right in your dessert! – would never have thought of making these from scratch, but they sound good.
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I love your “go for it ” attitude. Will it be tiramisu? Can’t wait to find out!
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Love this post!
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I have a lady finger mold, like a muffin tin, so your recipe will be delicious and beautiful.
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looks easy enough
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“I knew I needed to make ladyfingers.”–I love that you didn’t settle and knew you could do better. Yay, Ranting Chef:-) Also like your clever title–fun.
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Who knew you could make ladyfingers?! They’re getting so hard to find in the stores these days, and when they are found, the expiration dates are often suspect. Thank you for posting this!
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So I guess you’ll be making some proper coffee then?
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Love the homemade look 😉
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Homemade ladyfingers?! impressive.
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Ladyfingers. What else do you do with them besides tiramisu? Can you just eat them?
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Ooo I have never made lady fingers before, but these look very easy and delicious! Thanks for checking out my blog!
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ha ha great title…made me smile 😀
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never knew it was that simple to make it, will try making my own and i could use them for my ref cake.. looking forward to your next post, i bet you’ll be making tiramisu.
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OMG. you make such lovely bakes! Yummy! =)
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A man who cooks. Why…if lusting and coveting weren’t a sin…I’d be waaaay overweight eating all your food.
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Love that you made your ladyfingers. I think we all tend to think of the store before making our own. I bet commercial ladyfingers don’t have such a short ingredient list. Nor will they taste as good!
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I made some cookies for my friends yesterday, and I was saying the exact same thing about my baking apprehension! One wrong ingredient and oops, there goes the recipe.
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These look finger-lickin’ good! 😉 Btw, hilarious title, too. I hope it’s not flagged as self-promo but I had this post in mind when I wrote Monday’s on my blog (NSFW, just to be aware).
https://99rpm.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/freedom-brought-to-you-by-letter-f/
Giving the lady a finger is as American as apple pie. 🙂
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I agree that measuring when baking is no fun 🙂
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