ladyfingers, not tiramisu

the making of real italian tiramisu entails whipping egg yolks with sugar until its thick and creamy and then incorporating it into the mascarpone (did you know that mascarpone is a triple cream cheese made from crème fraîche? YUM!) although i was thinking of preparing it this way because i'm certain it would produce the most delicious tiramisu, i got nervous not only about making it with, but serving raw eggs. so i decided to make a creamy filling sans yolks. the result? decent but it's not the same as a true rich and creamy italian tiramisu. i regret not going with my initial instinct of going w/ a yolk base. next time, i'll definitely do it. salmonella or not.

one thing i don't regret is making my own ladyfingers. yup, i made my own ladyfingers!

i went to 2 trader joe's and a whole foods and no one had ladyfingers!! SO, i had to resort to making my own. i was real annoyed with having to but now i'm really happy that i did. it's my favorite part of the just decent tiramisu. i'll definitely always make my own from now on.

i was going to post the recipe for the tiramisu but am deciding not to. i just don't love it. plus, it's pretty simple. mascarpone mixed with sugar and whipped cream, layered with espresso dipped ladyfingers. once i make the perfect tiramisu recipe, i will post it. but for now, here's the recipe for the ladyfingers.

mise en place

ladyfingers
makes approx. 36
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 eggs, yolks and whites separated
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

you will need 2 baking sheets buttered & floured OR lined w/ parchment paper and a piping bag w/ a circle tip.

preheat oven to 300 degrees.

in a small bowl, combine the flour and salt and mix well.

in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip the egg whites with 2 tablespoons of the sugar until still peaks form.

in a large bowl, add the yolks and mix. add the remaining sugar and whisk until it becomes thick and pale. you can do this w/ the electric mixer. i did it by hand. note: once you add the sugar to the yolks, start whisking it immediately. it is important to mix the egg yolks before adding the sugar and do not let the sugar sit on the yolks. this will burn them and won't work as intended for baking.

sprinkle the flour over the yolk mixture. add a big dollop of whipped egg whites and fold until well incorporated. add the remaining whites and fold in. note: once you add the the rest of the whites you will need to work quickly to fold in as well as to bag and pipe. this is a batter that need to be used immediately. the longer it takes to get to the oven, the worse.

put the batter in the pastry bag and pipe out into 4" logs, 1" in between each as they expand while baking. bake for 20 mins or until the ladyfingers have take on some color and are golden brown. cool on a wire rack.

bon appétit~!