Ho ho ho, where did all the time go? (stunned face emoticon here). Once again, the proximity of the festive period has taken me completely by surprise this year. Well, not quite as I did mark it in my calendar so that I can focus my mind on festive recipe creation ahead of the time, but it still feels a touch too early to be baking all these cookies, coming up with impressive dinner centrepieces and flamboyant sides.
Today’s recipe is a bit of a tease. I’ve been working on vegan lady fingers also known as savoiardi biscuits on and off for two years or so and have plenty of failed biscuits, which turned into sad flat puddles, under my belt. This year I’ve decided that I really want to make a proper vegan tiramisu for the blog (recipe now live, here), so before I do I’ve got to put this recipe to bed. And I am pleased to report that after countless sinks of washing up (that’s the least fun part of recipe creation), I have come up with a vegan lady fingers recipe I am happy with. They are not hard to make – the key skill here is being able to fold ingredients into each other super gently – and the best thing about them is that they keep for ages provided you lock them away from any source of humidity. This means that if you plan to make tiramisu for your Thanksgiving or Xmas meal, you can make the lady fingers two or even three weeks in advance and lock them away safely until the time to get on with the cream comes. Just make sure that no one is sneaking up to your hiding place at around afternoon coffee time on a daily basis 😉 .
50 g / ¼ cup vegan butter (I used Naturli) or odourless coconut oil 185 g / 1½ cups plain gluten-free flour mix (I used this one) 60 g / ½ cup cornflour / cornstarch or potato starch 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp baking soda ¼ tsp salt 25 g / 2 tbsp almond flour / meal ½ tsp xanthan gum 80 ml / 1/3 cup aquafaba / chickpea brine 5 ml / 1 tsp lemon or lime juice 125 g / ½ cup + 2 tbsp caster sugar, plus more to sprinkle 10 ml / 2 tsp vanilla extract* 2.5 ml / ½ tsp almond extract icing sugar, to sprinkle
