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Lady Fingers
5 tablespoons powdered sugar 3 egg-whites 2 egg-yolks 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt Add the powdered sugar to the stiffly beaten egg-whites. Add to these the two well-beaten yolks and the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour, which has been sifted twice with the salt. Line a pan with paper but do not grease it. Press the batter through a pastry bag on to it, forming strips four inches long and one inch wide. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees F.) for ten minutes.
A short, honest sponge batter — no butter, no leavening beyond beaten egg white. It comes together in minutes, so have the pan lined and the bag fitted before you start whipping.
- Powdered sugarUsually taken to mean confectioners' sugar, though period books did not always use the term for the same product; some meant a fine granulated sugar. Read as confectioners', five tablespoons is roughly 1 1/4 oz (35 g); sift it if it has caked.
- OvenThe recipe gives the number itself: 350F (175C). At that heat ten minutes is right for fingers this size — they should be set and pale gold at the edges, still ivory on top. Two or three minutes more and they turn brittle and dry.
- Folding is the hingeEverything rises on air trapped in the whites. Beat them until they hold a firm peak, add the sugar, then fold the yolks and flour in with a spatula in as few strokes as will incorporate them. Stirred batter spreads flat and bakes to leather.
- Lining the panThe recipe says only "paper"; plain unglazed paper was the period's usual choice, so use parchment, and follow the instruction not to grease it.
- PipingA plain round tip about 1/2 in (12 mm) gives the four-inch by one-inch strips called for. Space them two inches apart — they expand more sideways than up.
- The sugar dustingSprinkle it just before the pan goes in, and if you want the traditional pearled crust, dust twice with a minute between so the first coat dissolves.
- YieldExpect about 18 to 24 fingers from this quantity. They stale quickly; eat the day they are made, or store airtight for use in trifles and charlottes, where slight dryness is an advantage.