Ladyfingers

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

3 egg whites

120g granulated sugar, divided

140g plain gluten free flour blend

10g cornstarch

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking powder

For dusting the ladyfingers:

65g icing sugar

100g granulated sugar

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan) and line two baking sheets with baking paper.
Using a hand mixer, whisk 2 egg yolks and 1/2 of the granulated sugar until increased in volume, pale and fluffy.
In a separate bowl, whisk 3 egg whites and the other 1/2 of the granulated sugar until you get a stiff-peak meringue.
Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites until just incorporated (make sure you don't knock out too much air during mixing!).
Sift the gluten free flour, cornstarch, xanthan gum and baking powder into the egg mixture. Fold everything together until no flour clumps remain, but make sure not to lose too much air during the mixing.
Transfer the cookie batter into a piping bag with a large round nozzle (the diameter of the nozzle will determine the thickness of your cookies, so choose appropriately depending on what size of cookies you want). Pipe about 10 cm long lines of batter onto the lines baking sheets. Make sure to leave about 2 cm space in between the cookies.
Mix together the powdered and granulated sugars and, using a sieve, generously dust the piped ladyfinger cookies.
Bake in the pre-heated oven at 180C for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 150C and bake for a further 12 - 15 minutes. The second baking at the lower temperature is important, as it ensures that the cookies dry out and become crisp.
Cool on a cooling rack and enjoy! The gluten free ladyfingers keep well in a closed container in a cool dry place for about 1 - 2 weeks.

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