Savoiardi | Sponge fingers

These can be used in many recipes or are also delicious eaten on their own!

I must stress that my Savoiardi never come out looking much like ‘fingers’, but they always taste delicious and are actually perfectly shaped & sized to use in my famous traditional Tiramisù.

Preparation time: 20 mins
Cooking time: 10 mins

To make approximately 14 biscuits: 

• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 large egg whites
• 100g caster sugar
• 20g icing sugar
• 120g plain white flour
• 7.5ml Madagascan Vanilla Extract
• Soft margarine for greasing

• Pre-heat a fan-assisted oven to 180°C (or 190°C if not fan-assisted)
• Grease and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper (grease the tray, place the paper on it, then lightly grease the exposed part of the paper)
• Beat the egg yolks and caster sugar with an electric whisk until you have a thick and pale mixture of creamy consistency, then whisk in the vanilla extract
• Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks, then sift in the icing sugar and whisk again until the mixture is firm and the bowl can be turned upside-down without the mixture moving
• Fold half the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk, sugar & vanilla mixture
• Sift and then fold in the flour
• Fold in the remaining egg whites
• Using a table spoon, deposit the sponge mixture onto the greaseproof paper, into ca. 8-10cm long x 2.5cm wide strips, leaving enough gap between each strip to allow for expansion
• Lightly dust each strip with caster sugar
• Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 10 minutes, until lightly golden but still pale and slightly soft, but dry, to the touch

Remove from the oven and place the greaseproof paper with the biscuits on it onto a wire cooling rack
After a couple of minutes, separate the biscuits from the paper using a long thin-bladed knife or spreader and place them directly onto the cooling rack to cool further (if you leave it long enough, the biscuits will easily ‘peel’ off the paper, without need of additional implements)

Gloriously Good!