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Gluten-Free Ladyfingers This recipe makes the traditional crispy and dried ladyfingers or savoiardi, which are perfect for tiramisu, zuppa inglese, trifles in general, or snacking with coffee and tea. A few notes about this recipe. · Eggs whip best when they are at room temperature, but whole room temperature-eggs are harder to separate. I recommend that you separate your cold eggs first and then, let them come to temperature. · Make sure there is no bit of egg yolk in the whites or they won’t fully whip. Any fat residue in the bowl, whisk, or in the whites themselves will prevent them from becoming meringue. · Whip the egg whites until they form semi-stiff peaks. There is not enough sugar to make a full meringue with glossy peaks (that’s not what we are going for) but make sure they it’s not too soft. At the same time, make sure the egg whites are not overwhipped or chunky, which will make folding the batter difficult and you might be left with chunks of whipped whites that are hard to mix through. · Once again, I would highly recommend you weigh ingredients because too much flour from dipping your measuring cup in the flour bag will cause dry ladyfingers and too little flour will make your batter runny. · You can use either brown or white rice flour for this - preferably superfine so it hydrates the batter well and doesn’t have a gritty texture. The brown rice flour will give the ladyfingers a slightly deeper color although not super significant. · I like using very fine granulated sugar, superfine sugar, or caster sugar. The small particles help whip the eggs better and dissolve into the batter easier. Please note that you are going to divide the total granulated sugar amount into equal parts. One for the whites, one for the yolks, and one for sprinkling on top. · It is important to be gentle when folding the batter so it does retain all the air you incorporated during whipping, but of course, make sure that you mix all ingredients through. Use a folding motion rather than mixing. A rubber spatula is best for this. · The size of the pastry tip you use will determine how large your ladyfingers are. I use a number 8 tip, which is shy of 3/4-inch in diameter. You can use a tip that is slightly smaller, in which case, you will have thinner ladyfingers and you will get more of them. The length can also vary but I would say around 3.5 to 4.5 inches is standard. Makes 20 to 24 ladyfingers 1/2 cup (70 g) superfine brown or white rice flour 1/3 cup (50 g) potato starch 1/4 cup (30 g) tapioca starch 1 teaspoon baking powder 3 large eggs, separated (see headnote) 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar, divided 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar 1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a large pastry bag with a tip that is approximately 3/4-inch in diameter (see headnote). 2. Sift the rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, and baking powder through a fine sieve into a medium bowl and set aside. 3. Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat using the whisk attachment until frothy over medium high speed. Add 1/4 cup (50 g) of the granulated sugar one tablespoon at a time until they form semi-stiff peaks (see headnote). Transfer the whipped whites to a large bowl making sure to scrape all the sides and get it all. No need to clean the stand mixer bowl. 4. Add the egg yolks into the stand mixer bowl and beat with the whisk attachment over medium high speed. Add 1/4 cup (50 g) of the granulated sugar all at once. Whip the mixture until very pale and thick, about 4 to 5 minutes. 5. Add the whipped egg yolks into the whites and carefully fold together using a spatula until you have no white streaks. It is very important to be gentle not to deflate too much air from the batter. 6. Sprinkle the sifted flour mixture over the batter and fold gingerly using a spatula making sure not to deflate it too much. Once you have no streaks of unmixed flour, transfer the batter to the prepared pastry bag. Pipe the batter into 3.5-inch long ladyfingers leaving 1.5-inches in between. 7. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup (50 g) granulated sugar and powdered sugar in a fine sieve and dust the tops of the ladyfingers with it. It’s ok if some of the sugar ends up on the parchment. It won’t really burn much in the oven. 8. Bake the ladyfingers for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 300F and bake for another 15 minutes until they are crispy and lightly browned (the sugar topping will stay light). Some of the ladyfingers might crack on the surface and that is ok. I actually like how they look that way. Let the ladyfingers cool completely on the baking sheet. Store them in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks. To make the Berry Trifle as shown on Instagram I doubled the pastry cream recipe in Bakes Simple (or use another one you like) but instead of 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks (for the double batch), I used 8 egg yolks and omitted the butter at the end. This makes it a slightly runnier pastry cream. For the rum syrup, heat 1/2 cup (100 g) sugar and 1/2 cup (115 ml) water in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Transfer the syrup a medium bowl and cool to room temperature. Add a splash of dark rum or another liqueur you like to taste. Toss 4 cups of berries with a couple of tablespoons of sugar in a large bowl and let them macerate for one hour until they release some juices. To assemble the trifle, dip the ladyfingers in the cooled rum syrup for 2 to 3 seconds each. You want them fully soaked but not falling apart. Layer the soaked-lady fingers with pastry cream and macerated berries. Top the whole thing with more berries and refrigerate for at least 4 hours so all the flavors deepen and the ladyfingers absorb all the juices. It will be a bit of a messy thing to serve and eat but so delicious!
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