Ladyfingers

[The Edifying Conscience]

Edited to add that I have not tried this recipe.

Ladyfingers
Gluten-Free Baking, Rebecca Reilly

2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
4 eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla
1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
confectioners' sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line 2 or 3 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together the potato starch, almond flour and baking powder.

Ribbon* the egg yolks with the sugar, salt and vanilla heavily ( see technique, page 30).

Whip the egg whites with the lemon juice until soft peaks are formed. Gently stir one fourth of the whites into the ribboned base. Slide the remaining whites on top. Sprinkle dry ingredients over the whites and fold into the base until homogeneous.

Fit a pastry bag with a plain 1/2-inch nozzle (or use a zip top bag and cut off the tip after filling). Stuff the pastry bag with the batter and pipe 3-inch-long ladyfingers with the confectioners' sugar. Bake one cookie sheet at a time, refrigerating the second and third one while the first batch bakes. This will slow down the deflation of the whites. Bake for 7 to 8 minutes or until the ladyfingers are golden. Transfer to a cooling rack.

*Ribboning is beating the egg yolk and sugar until thick and pale and they form a ribbon. Ribboning is very important in baking. By whisking the egg yolks and sugar together, you are combining the capacity of the fat in the yolks to trap air with the capacity of the sugar to attract the moisture in the yolks. The moisture will make a heavy syrup with the sugar, which will help trap more air. As the beating goes on, the mixture will get heavier and stickier and increase in volume. Some recipes call for a very heavy ribbon, one that will actually fall from the whisk in a flat stream, forming ribbons that fold onto themselves. Others may call for a thin ribbon. Ribboning adds air to the batter, which acts as a leaving agent and also evenly disperses the egg yolk through the batter.

Variations
Spoon the batter into a pastry bag fitted with 1/2-inch plain nozzle. Pipe 1 1/2-inch rounds onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes. Cool. Sandwich 2 cakes together with a filling of sweetened and flavored whipped cream, ganache, cream cheese frosting or buttercream.