Lady Fingers Recipe
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This lady fingers recipe is crunchy on the outside and spongey inside. These delicious, airy, and light sponge fingers are made using 6 simple ingredients you can usually find in your pantry! Lady fingers are perfect for your everyday snacks and for making your favorite desserts.
Making cookies is one of my favorite pass times. They are easy to make and delicious to eat. I can even add various ingredients available in my pantry. And cookies only need a few simple ingredients which makes them easier to prepare for me. Just like these tasty lady fingers! It has a sponge cake like base, a light and airy interior, and a crispy exterior.
These only need a few ingredients, sort of like my super easy Butter Swim Biscuits! I love a baking recipe that only requires 7 ingredients or less.
For this ladyfingers recipe, I only used 6 simple ingredients that are typically stored in my pantry and fridge. They are also available in your favorite local grocery store. And the best part is you can use these homemade ladyfingers to make the best Tiramisu.
See Also:
- Use these homemade lady fingers to make the best Tiramisu recipe from scratch!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Needs 6 Simple Ingredients – This recipe calls for 6 simple and readily available ingredients. You can find them in most baker’s pantries and grocery stores.
- Quick To Bake – It only needs a total of about 15 minutes of baking time to make ladyfingers!
- Enjoy Lady Fingers All Year Round – Lady Fingers are typically seasonal. But if you make it at home, you can enjoy delicious lady fingers all year or use them to make tiramisu, strawberry shortcake, Charlotte Russe, or Italian trifles.
Ingredients Needed
To make homemade lady fingers, you’ll need 6 simple ingredients:
- Eggs – You need to separate four whole eggs. Egg whites are for whipping and making meringue. And egg yolks for making your egg yolk mixture. Ensure both egg whites and egg yolks are at room temperature before whipping. To get your egg at room temperature fast, you can place refrigerated eggs in a bowl with running water and then warm tap water.
- All-Purpose Flour – Always sift the flour before adding it to your egg mixture. This will make it easier to mix and prevent your egg mixture from deflating. For best results, I recommend weighing your flour.
- Granulated Sugar – This helps to sweeten the cookies and make them tender.
- Baking Powder – This helps give the lady finger cookies a bit of lift in the oven when baking.
- Cornstarch – This helps to create a light, airy tender Lady finger cookie.
- Powdered Sugar – This homemade ladyfingers recipe calls for powdered sugar to be dusted on top of the ladyfingers. This is essential to help the cookies from spreading in the oven. If you don’t have powdered sugar, you can make one yourself using this How To Make Powdered Sugar Guide.
How To Make Ladyfingers
Why buy lady fingers if you can make them at home?! Follow these steps to make delicious, crispy, and spongey lady finger cookies.
1. Preheat The Oven
Preheat the oven to 350°F/177°C. Adjust oven rack and place it in the middle.
2. Prepare Baking Sheet
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Prepare your large piping bag or pastry bag. Place a piping tip with a plain round opening. This will help you get the right shape and size for your homemade ladyfingers.
3. Separate Your Eggs
Separate your eggs when cold. Eggs will separate better when they are cold.
Separate egg whites from your egg yolks. Place egg yolks in a separate bowl and set aside. Transfer egg whites to a large mixing bowl. Then let them come to room temperature. Room temperature eggs will whip up better when at room temperature.
4. Create A Shiny Meringue
Whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat egg whites mixture using your electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a wire whisk attachment at medium-high speed until soft peaks form.
Add 2 Tablespoons of the granulated sugar to your egg whites and continue whipping until they reach stiff, glossy peaks.
Your meringue should have stiff peaks and not soft peaks. If soft peaks form, keep whisking until you get stiff peaks. This is very important to get an airy and thick batter. When you take the beater out of the egg whites the egg whites peaks should stand up on their own.
5. Make Egg Mixture
In a small bowl, beat egg yolks, vanilla extract, and remaining sugar until you reach a smooth consistency. Make sure your egg yolks are fully beaten without any lumps. The egg yolk mixture should be pale yellow in color and ribbony in consistency.
Fold half of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture with a rubber spatula. Do this slowly for a few seconds. Gently fold your egg mixture to prevent deflating your meringue.
You should still have stiff peaks after this step.
5. Add Remaining Ingredients
Sift the flour, baking powder, and cornstarch to your egg whites and gently fold the flour mixture using a rubber spatula. Be careful not to deflate your egg whites. Repeat until you mixed all your sifted dry ingredients into the egg mixture
After adding all your flour, you should have a light and frothy batter.
Then fold in the remaining egg white mixture.
6. Transfer To Piping Bag
Scoop your batter into your prepared large piping bag.
Get your prepared baking sheet. Pipe out the ladyfingers into 3 rows of 4 each. Leave about 1 inch between the lady fingers. Each lady finger should be about 3 inches (to 4 inches) long and 1 inch thick. Leave spaces in between your ladyfingers to prevent them from sticking together.
7. Bake
Sprinkle powdered sugar on the top of your lady finger cookies before baking. The powdered sugar will help with the cookies spreading in the oven.
Bake in the oven at 350°F/177°C for 12-15 minutes. Make sure your oven rack is in the middle. The longer you bake the cookies, the crispier they will be. So if you want a softer cookie, you can bake them for less time.
8. Cool Ladyfinger Cookies
Carefully lift the parchment paper with the ladyfingers still on it. Place parchment paper on a cooling rack or flat surface to cool completely.
Recipe Variations
- Almond Extract – Add a dash of almond extract to your egg yolks to add the scent and flavor of almond.
- Lemon Zest – To make ladyfingers more refreshing, add lemon zest when gently folding your flour in.
- Cocoa Powder – If you love chocolates and want to make ladyfingers chocolatey, add the sifted cocoa powder with your flour.
Recipe Tips
- Want a crispier exterior like store-bought ladyfingers? Bake it longer. If you want softer and chewier ladyfingers, bake them shorter. Drier and crispier ladyfingers are better for making desserts.
- Make sure there are no egg yolks mixed with your egg whites before whisking in your stand mixer or electric mixer to get the stiff peaks. It will be difficult to get the stiff peaks if some yolks are mixed in. I like to seperate one egg at a time, and then transfer that to my mixing bowl in case I get any egg yolks in I’ve only ruined one egg and not all of them.
- Use a clean grease-free bowl when whipping the egg whites so they whip up to their full volume. I like to wipe the bowl down with a little bit of vinegar or lemon juice to ensure it’s grease-free.
- Always measure your ingredients using an electronic measurement scale. This ensures you are adding the right amount of each ingredient.
- If you don’t have a piping bag or pastry bag, you can use a ziplock bag. Cut the corner to pipe batter out.
- To prepare ladyfingers before making desserts, dry them overnight uncovered. And when you get that hard exterior, transfer it to an airtight container until you use them.
What Can I Use Lady Fingers For?
My favorite use of lady fingers is for homemade tiramisu! Sure you could buy store-bought cookies but these homemade versions are so much better tasting! You can also use them in my no bake Tiramisu cheesecake!
You can also use them in what’s called a Charlotte cake, a layered cake made of Bavarian cream, fresh fruit like strawberries, and surrounded by lady fingers.
Storage Instructions
To store ladyfingers, transfer them to an airtight container or cookie jar at room temperature. It can last up to two weeks. But remember, the texture will not be the same as freshly baked homemade ladyfingers.
You can freeze ladyfingers. Before freezing, ensure your ladyfinger cookies are cool completely. Transfer to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. Place parchment paper in between layers to prevent sticking. Frozen ladyfingers can last up to one month.
Recipe FAQs
The reason why your ladyfingers spread flat is your egg whites are not fully whisked together or they are overmixed. When undermixed, the egg whites will not get the stiff peaks needed for this recipe. While overmixing will lead to deflating your batter.
There are many factors that affect your egg whites. A tiny bit of water or egg yolk will make it hard to whip your egg whites. Sadly, if your egg whites are not whipping properly, you will need to start all over again.
More Recipes To Try
Lady Fingers
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs separated
- ⅔ cup (134 g) granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (120 g) all purpose flour *spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Powdered sugar for dusting on top before baking
Instructions
- Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Fit a large pastry bag with a plain 1/2- inch round tube.
- Place 4 egg whites in a large bowl and beat on high speed with an electric mixer until soft peaks start to form. I use my stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and continue beating until stiff and glossy.
- In a second bowl, with an electric mixer, beat egg yolks, vanilla extract and remaining granulated sugar until thick and very pale in color, about 2 minutes in medium high speed. ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- With a rubber spatula, fold ½ of the egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture. Sift in the flour, cornstarch and baking powder and fold to combine. Then fold in the remaining egg whites until combined. 1 cup (120 g) all purpose flour ½ teaspoon baking powder 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pastry bag. Pipe 3-inch fingers in rows, abiut 1 inch wide about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Dust the tops of the ladyfingers with powdered sugar.
- Bake in a preheated oven until firm to the touch and lightly golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Let cool completely on the baking sheet, then transfer to the a wire cooling rack. Continue baking the rest of the ladyfingers as directed.
Notes
- Powdered Sugar: Do not skip dusting the cookies with powdered sugar before baking. This will help keep them from spreading.
- Storage: To store ladyfingers, transfer them to an airtight container or cookie jar at room temperature. It can last up to two weeks. But remember, the texture will not be the same as freshly baked homemade ladyfingers.
- Freezing: Yes, you can freeze ladyfingers. Before freezing, ensure your ladyfinger cookies are cool completely. Transfer to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container. Place parchment paper in between layers to prevent sticking. Frozen ladyfingers can last up to one month.
When going through the step by step directions it says to bake at 350° but in the instructions it says 400°. Which do you recommend?
Oops, sorry about that! The correct temperature is 350°F. Thanks for catching that – I’ll make sure to fix it! 😊
I live in small Midwest town. Went to three stores to find Lay fingers. But no one had them. So I looked up your recipe and made my own. I won’t ever have to run around town again looking for them. Very easy to follow directions. Thank you for sharing. Madonna
Hi Madonna, I’m so glad the recipe was helpful, and that you found it easy to follow! Now you’ll always have homemade ladyfingers right at home. Thanks so much for sharing, and happy baking!
I never thought to make my own. But of course homemade is always better. These are perfect for tiramasu. Thanks!
Great, thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed making them, they are perfect for making Tiramisu. Homemade is the best!
I had never made these before but this recipe was so easy to follow and they turned out perfectly! Thank you
Thank you! I’m so glad the recipe was easy to follow, and the lady fingers turned out perfectly for you!
Whipped up a batch of these for an afternoon treat, and they do not disappoint! Quick, easy and delicious; exactly what I needed to cure my sweet tooth, indeed!
Thank you! I’m glad the lady fingers were quick, easy, and delicious for you. Perfect for curing that sweet tooth! Happy baking!
I love these Lady Fingers, plus they are so easy to make! Thank you!
Great, so glad that you enjoyed them, thank you!
I’ve never made lady fingers myself and I was so pleased that these turned out much better than any lady fingers I’ve ever bought from the store! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thank you for your wonderful feedback! I’m so happy to hear that your homemade lady fingers turned out so well, they are definitely better than store-bought. It’s great to know the recipe worked well for you.