Preheat oven to 350°. Sift together 3 times the flour, half of the sugar & the salt.
Beat the egg whites until stiff & gradually beat in the remaining sugar. Beat the yolks until thick & lemon colored & fold with the vanilla into the egg white mixture. Sift the flour mixture 1/3 at a time over the eggs & fold in carefully.
Line ungreased baking sheets with parchment. Press the batter through a pastry bag onto the paper or shape with a spoon into strips about 4x3/4".
Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from paper with a spatula & cool on a rack.~~From C. Claiborne

Ladyfinger Gènoise

Recipe By :Flo Baker

Categories : Basic Cake
Dessert

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pour the melted butter into a 1-quart bowl; reserve.

Put the sifted flour, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and the salt into a sifter or sieve; sift onto a piece of waxed paper and set aside.

Put the eggs, yolks, and 1 table spoon of the sugar into the bowl ov a heavy duty mixer (or work with a hand-held mixer). Holding the whisk attachment from the mixer in your hand, beat the mixture just to combine. Add the remaining sugar and whisk by hand to mix. With the bowl and whisk attachment in place, whip the mixture on medium speed until it is airy, pale, and tripled in volume, like softly whip- ped cream, 4 to 5 minutes. You'll know that the eggs are properly whipped when you lift the whisk and the mixture falls back into the bowl in a ribbon that rests on the surface for about 10 seconds. If the ribbon immediately sinks into the mixture, continue for a few more minutes. Pour the vanilla extract during the last moments of whipping.

Detach the bowl from the mixer. Sprinkle about one third of the flour mixture over the batter. Fold in the flour with a rubber spatula, stopping as soon as the flour is in- corporated. Fold in the rest of the flour in 2 more additions.

Gently spoon about 1 cup of the batter into the bowl with the melted butter and fold the butter in with the rubber spatula. Fold this mixture into the batter in the mixer bowl. (This is the point at which the batter is at its most fragile, so fold gently.)

The batter is now ready to be used and, in fact, must be baked immediately.

Description: "Can be Basis for Other Desserts"
Source: "Baking with Julia - page 41"
Yield: "6 dozen"

NOTES : Makes enough batter for 6 dozen ladyfingers, 24 large madeleines, or 1 recipe petits fours. The gènoise is an inherent sturdy cake, but this gènoise is even sturdier
than the classic - it has a little more flour, giving it the body it needs to be piped into ladyfingers that will retain their shape, and additional egg yolks for moisture and even more structure. No matter that the propor-
tions are different, the technique for making the batter is the same as that for Perfect Gènoise.