If I said all you needed was a few basic ingredients and 15-20 mins of spare time to make your own sponge/lady fingers at home, would it be enough to get your attention?
Savoiardi is one of the basics of patisserie and used in many desserts like charlottes, trifles and the tiramisu, the most famous of them all. It is also a pleasant company to tea and coffee. With an airy, spongy, cake like texture it’s different from the shop bought ones but once you try them you’ll see that there is no comparison.
Beating the egg whites well, I mean really well is the most important thing when making these biscuits. A few minutes on a medium high speed will ensure a firm enough batter which will keep its shape when piped.
Then we will add the egg yolks and the flour and incorporate everything very gently so not to deflate the whites.
We will end up with a rather soft and foamy, mousse like batter so in order to have neat biscuits we best use a pastry bag. We also need to remember that they’ll spread a little bit with the heat, so leave enough space between each one.
- 3 large eggs (separated, room temp)
- 90 gr sugar
- 90 gr flour
- a pinch of salt
- .
- To sprinkle on the top
- granulated sugar
- powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 200 C (390 F) fan assisted. Line two oven trays/sheets with parchment paper.
- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes until foamy.
- Add the sugar a little at a time and continue to beat on high, until stiff peaks form.
- Whisk lightly the egg yolks with a fork and add to the whites, mix very gently by hand.
- Sift the flour over the mixture (in three parts) and gently fold it in with a rubber spatula until well combined.
- Transfer the batter into the piping bag fitted with an ½ inch round tip.
- Pipe the batter into lines of about 3 inches.
- Generously sprinkle them with granulated sugar first, which will give them a little crunch.
- Then sprinkle with icing sugar, let sit for 2 minutes and sprinkle again.
- Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, then open the oven door to get some of the heat out and bake for a further 2 minutes if needed, until golden.
- Let them cool for a few minutes, then release from the parchment using a spatula.
You need to beat the egg whites really well until stiff and try to not deflate it while combining with the rest of the ingredients. If you over mix the batter it will spread a lot when piped and you'll end up with flat biscuits.
As I said before these are softer compared to the shop bought ones so it's best to leave them uncovered for a day to dry them out or up to 2-3 days.
If kept in an airtight container they'll keep for up to ten days.
I was so pleased with the results that this recipe replaced the one I’ve been using for the last few years. Apart from making a bigger batch I didn’t make a change on the recipe.
I took the recipe from one of my favourite sites www.tavolartegusto.it and shared it with you on my blog with the permission of Simona, the author of the site. You can find the origin recipe here, I hope you’ll try and be as pleased as I am…