[piccolina]

Hi Gale,

I have most of your Food Network shows tivo'd. I miss your show. Your recipes were consistently delicious and I always knew when I used one, it would work 100% of the time.

I have a question regarding Savoiardi. I have tried many times to re-create the glazed, crackly shell, meringue-like coating which covers the tops of the ones I buy at Italian bakeries. All the recipes I've tried do not produce it and I even called a bakery for the secret but the baker refused to disclose it!!!

So, in the interest of clarification, do you have any suggestions, ie., should I make a sweetened meringue and pipe it on the batter before bakiing? I would be so thrilled if I could duplicate this at home since to buy them requires a 2 hour trip to Astoria, Queens.

Thanks for any ideas, help, etc. Best regards, Cecelia

[Gale Gand]

That's a good question. I looked over lots of recipes that I found on the internet and none of them have the step I learned in pastry school which is to dust them heavily with powdered sugar right after you pipe them, but before you bake them. That makes a white sugar-ie coating on the top surface of the lady fingers. There is another biscuit I do with a sheet of puff pastry that you spread royal icing over the surface and then cut the dough into matchsticks and bake, and that creates and even thicker layer of sugar glaze, but it can only be applied to firm doughs, not pipe-able batters. I hope that helps.