Sunday Rewind: Give that Lady a Finger

 – Originally posted June 29, 2012.As The Rantings of an Amateur Chef has been going since February of 2012, there are quite a few readers that have joined along the way. In an effort to bring back some great recipes that they may have missed, I will dedicate Sundays to re-posting a favorite that is at least two years old. I hope you enjoy! – The Ranting Chef

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

Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/ladyfingers/