Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Lady Fingers

Having best girl friends is like having sisters. These girls know you, love you even though you’re crazy, and answer the phone when you call them at 3 a.m. for any number of reasons. They share inside jokes with you, they encourage you, and they can get away with making fun of you to your face.

My best girl friends are lifesavers. They are a necessity in my life, but I can admit that girls aren’t always the easiest creatures to understand or to get along with. Girls can be competitive with each other, and at times they might even compete for the affections of the same guy.

Fortunately, my girl friends and I have different taste in men. Chapter 8 in The Baker's Man is titled Lady Fingers, and Anna is having rotten luck when it comes to girl friends and men.

Anna and her best friend Tessa have their eyes on the same guy. Anna doesn’t like that Tessa has her lady fingers reaching for the one guy Anna can’t get out of her mind, but she can’t stop what’s unfolding.

Lady Fingers

Ingredients
5 egg whites
4 egg yolks
⅔ c sugar
1 dash vanilla
½ tsp baking powder
1 c all-purpose flour
 

How to Make

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Separate eggs into two separate bowls. 
3. Beat egg whites on high speed until foamy. 
4. Add two tablespoons of the ⅔ cup of sugar to the egg whites. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form, and set aside. 
5. In a separate bowl, add vanilla and remainder of the sugar to the egg yolks and beat. 
6. Set it aside. 
7. Sift together the flour and baking powder. 
8. Fold half of the egg whites into the yolks. Do it real gently. 
9. Fold the flour mixture into the yolks. 
10. Fold the rest of the egg whites into the yolks. 
11. Put the batter into a pastry bag.
12. Pipe the batter onto a greased cookie sheet. 
13. Bake for about 6 minutes. Stay close because all you want is the edges to turn brown.

Note: Lady fingers are one of the main ingredients in tiramisu.

Tiramisu

Ingredients
6 egg yolks
1 ¼ c white sugar
1 ¼ c mascarpone cheese
1 ¾ c heavy whipping cream
24 lady fingers
⅓ c Kahlua
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (dust)
Optional: 1 (1 oz) square semi-sweet chocolate (shaved)

How to Make

1. Chill the bowl you will be whipping the cream in.
2. Boil water in the bottom of the double boiler. After water boils, in the top of the double boiler combine egg yolks and sugar. 
3. Reduce heat to low.
4. Cook for approximately 10 minutes and don't go anywhere! Stir it constantly. 
5. Remove the mixture from heat and whip until its thick. 
6. Add the mascarpone to the whipped yolks. 
7. Beat until combined. 
8. Pull your chilled bowl out of fridge, and whip the cream until stiff peaks are formed. 
9. Gently fold into yolk mixture and set aside. 
10. Split the lady fingers in half. 
11. Line the bottom and sides of your serving bowl with the lady fingers. 
12. Brush the lady fingers with the Kahlua.
13. Spoon half of the cream filling over the lady fingers. 
14. Now layer the lady fingers first, followed by Kahlua, and finally with the filling.
15. Keep layering until you run out of lady fingers.
16. The top layer of filling is finished off with cocoa or chocolate curls.
17. Refrigerate.

The Baker's Man can be purchased in paperback or for the Kindle from Amazon and for the NOOK through Barnes & Noble.

Chapter 1: Peanut Brittle

Chapter 2: Rum Cake

Chapter 3: Morning Glory Muffins

Chapter 4: Mudslide Cookies
Chapter 5: Chocolate Caramel Bombe
Chapter 6: Dark and Stormy Ganache