Ladyfingers--Take Two

I remember when I blogged about the Lemon Canadian Crown with the misshapen ladyfingers, and I said if I ever made them again, I should have my head examined. Well, I tried them again, and I actually think that my head is in pretty good shape.

Would you believe me if I said I made these chocolate ladyfingers?

I thought not. This picture is courtesy of Dana Bellefeuille, a blog reader who took pity on my woeful attempt, and showed me how they make them at the resort she works at. The pictures she sent, and her narrative accompaniment, helped me quite a bit.

Would you believe me if I said I made these?

Yes, you probably would, because, although they look considerably better than my first attempt, they still don't look professional. The main reason they look better is that I bought the appropriate piping tip. As in so many things, having the proper equipment is key. You'd think I would have figured that out before now.

This is the biggest tip they had at the kitchen equipment store. It's about three times the diameter of the tip I used before. I can't tell you how much easier it was to use the recommended piping tip. As I keep saying to myself (although it doesn't seem to take), following directions is usually a good thing.

From Dana, Hector, and Rose's video, I learned that the template for the ladyfingers should go the length of the pan, not the width. Through Rose's video, I learned that you can put dabs of ladyfinger batter under the four corners of the parchment paper, which will make the parchment stay in place. Rose also tells you to turn the paper over because you wouldn't want to get pencil marks on your ladyfingers. Having traces of graphite on my ladyfingers was the least of my worries, but I turned the paper over anyway because I didn't want to seem like I didn't care about culinary hygiene.

Presto! Eight minutes in the oven and reasonable facsimiles of ladyfingers emerge from the oven. And, better yet, I'm all set for next week's cheesecake. In fact, I have so many ladyfingers, I might have to make two.