Homemade Ladyfingers

if you can't find them in the store

Category
Baking
Cuisine
American
Serves
32 servings
Time
45 minutes
From
Pastry Living with Anya

ladyfingers

Adapted from: https://pastryliving.com/ladyfingers/

Ingredients

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 4.4 oz Granulated sugar (1/4 US cup)
  • 4.2 oz All-purpose flour or cake flour (1 US cup)
  • Some Powdered sugar

Instructions

Preparation

  1. Set a piping bag with a round tip. (and plastic wrap to wrap the cake batter if you decide to use it. Check the piping section to see how to use it.)
  2. Set a baking sheet pan. (One batch is enough for a full sheet pan or 2 half-sheet pans.)
  3. Sift flour with a fine sieve.
  4. Set a fine sieve and powdered sugar together.
  5. Separate eggs. Place egg whites in a large mixing bowl and egg yolks in a small bowl.
  6. Preheat the oven to (390°F | 199°C)
  7. Ensure all the ingredients and tools are clean without yolks, oils, and liquids so that the meringue whips well.

Meringue

  1. Whip the egg whites at medium to medium-high speed with a whisk attachment.
  2. Add about half of the sugar when the meringue looks very fluffy. Add the remaining sugar when it looks even stiffer and fluffier.
  3. Continue whipping it until it gets very fluffy and stiff.

Add yolks

  1. Add yolks and mix roughly until about 50% is blended.
  2. Tip: We do not want to take too much time here to keep the meringue nice and airy.
  3. Mix them right away while the condition of the meringue is the best.
  4. The meringue slowly starts separating as it sits. The process should take seconds!

Add flour

  1. Clean the sides of a bowl with a rubber spatula and add the sifted flour.
  2. Fold it just until you don't see any flour. Clean the spatula, the bottom, and the sides of the bowl on the way to ensure it's mixed evenly.
  3. How you fold here is very important. We do not want to mix it vigorously to prevent glutens in flour from forming too much, and also to prevent the air bubbles in the meringue from getting eliminated too much.
  4. The finished cake batter should look fluffy and thick.

Pipe the cake batter

  1. Pour the sponge cake batter into a piping bag. Or divide it in half and wrap each with plastic wrap, cut the edge, and insert it into a piping bag. That way, I can finish the piping process faster.
  2. Pipe it on the prepared baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat into 4 inches in length and 1 inch in thickness.
  3. Dust the powdered sugar on top all around the surface. Wait for seconds, and dust one or two more times to the spots where the sugar dissolved.
  4. When using parchment paper, pipe a small amount of the cake batter on the 4 corners of the baking sheet and attach parchment paper on top to prevent it from sliding around as you pipe it.
  5. The powdered sugar does an important job of making lighter and fluffier ladyfingers with more volume. Don't skip the process!
  6. You can change the size and thickness as you like. Just note that the thicker or bigger that is, the longer it takes to bake them. Adjust the baking time accordingly.

Bake them

  1. Bake them in the preheated oven until the surface gets light golden brown, and bounces back gently when you touch it.
  2. Take it out and wait until it cools down.
  3. Use a small cake spatula to remove the ladyfingers from the parchment paper.
  4. Tip: I baked them just until they cooked through to enjoy the fluffy texture. You can also bake longer to make them drier and crispier if you prefer.

Notes

  • Do not add all the sugar at once in the beginning - The sugar has the effect of preventing the meringue from whipping well when it's added too much before it gets whipped enough.
  • Making a stiff meringue is very important to make light, airy, and fluffy ladyfingers that can hold the shapes as you pipe them. Loose meringue leads to the loose cake batter!