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Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 12 Minutes |
Ready In: 27 Minutes Servings: 2 |
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With more egg than flour, homemade ladyfingers have a better taste and texture than the commercial product, and they are quick to put together. Many recipes call for beating the yolks with most or all the sugar, but that can make the yolks heavy, dry, and hard to fold with the other ingredients. The meringue method, in which all the sugar is beaten into the whites, makes a puffier batter that doesn't spread when it's piped out. Ingredients:
1 large egg, separated |
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar |
2 tablespoons sugar |
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract |
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour, dipped and leveled without packing |
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar |
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F with the rack at the upper level. Prepare a pastry bag with a #7 (5/8 inch) plain tip; butter and flour a reflective 12 x 8 inch baking sheet; sift the measured flour onto paper.
2. In a 3-cup bowl set in hot tap water, beat the egg white and cream of tartar to a soft foam with an electric hand mixer, then add the sugar and beat on medium speed to a very stiff meringue, with spaces left when the beaters are lifted out. Midway through the beating, add the vanilla extract.
3. Add the yolk and beat it in briefly, just enough to blend it evenly.
4. With a rubber spatula, fold in the sifted flour a fourth at a time, keeping it off the sides of the bowl where it can stick.
5. Pipe out rounded strips of batter 3 1/4 inches long x 3/4 inch wide, spacing them 1/2 inch apart. Hold the tip of the pastry bag slightly above the pan, so the batter falls slackly and doesn't bunch up or bulge; to stop the flow of batter and minimize tails, press the pastry tip down and then lift up sharply as you finish each strip.
6. Sift on a layer of confectioners' sugar, sprinkling each ladyfinger twice.
7. Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake 2 to 4 more minutes, until very pale tan on top and firm to the touch. Cool on a rack.
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