Savoiardi, Pistoccus, Finger Biscuits

Biscuit time with this best Savoiardi Pistoccus Finger Biscuits recipe! With these typical Sardinian biscuits, you can have a luxurious coffee time, serve them together with other delicacies at afternoon tea, or even dip them in your caffelatte in the morning. It is unbelievable how quickly you will run out of them! And of course, you can prepare amazing desserts with these finger biscuits: tiramisù, zuppa inglese, zuccotto, and many more.

Pistoccus, Savoiardi Biscuits, Finger Biscuits

Good To Know

Pistoccus, Savoiardi Biscuits, Finger Biscuits are so popular a bit everywhere nowadays.

Apparently, they were born in medieval times in the historical Savoy region in the western Alps and then they were exported to its neighbours. The Piedmont region introduced Savoiardi Biscuits to Sardinia during the Kingdom of Sardinia, between 1720 and 1861.

Sardinians slightly modified the recipe, making them much softer, lighter, bigger, and then they started naming them Pistoccus, literally ‘biscuits’.

A friend of mine, Nicoletta from Puglia, which is the region in the extreme southeast of Italy, the heel of Italy as it is known, just told me that this kind of biscuit is typical of her region and that they call them "Pastine". I can guess that they have small differences, either in the ingredients or in the preparation, but the basic recipe is the same. As I said, nowadays Savoiardi Biscuits are known everywhere.

Ingredients

1. Eggs, 6

2. Granulated sugar, 200 g

3. Flour, sifted, 200 g

4. Lemon zest, 1

5. Vanilla essence, 1 tsp

6. Icing sugar, to decorate

Let’s jump to the method

1. Get ready the ingredients and the baking tray covered with baking paper.

2. Switch the oven on at 160°C.

3. In two deep mixing bowls, separate the albumen (the egg white) and the yolk of the eggs.

4. Add to the albumen 150 g of the granulated sugar and whisk with an electric handheld mixer until a stiff peak is reached. The white should look smooth, moist, and should stand straight up when you lift the whisk. Keep apart.

5. Add to the yolk in the other mixing bowl the remaining 50 g of granulated sugar, the grated zest of 1 lemon, and the vanilla essence. Whisk with the electric handheld mixer until a light color is reached and the overall is smooth.

6. Transfer the yolk mix to the albumen and with a silicone or wooden spoon mix together very gently, without breaking the consistency of the mixture.

7. Little by little, sift the flour into the mixture. Continue mixing gently until all ingredients are smooth yet still firm.

8. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag, cut its end large enough for squeezing the pastry. On the baking tray create strips with the pastry 10 cm long x 3 cm wide.

9. Sprinkle the pastry with icing sugar.

10. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. If the consistency, the length, and the width are correct, the biscuits will be ready and perfect in 15 minutes.

11. Let the biscuits cool down completely, then… enjoy your sweet treat!

Pistoccus, Savoiardi Biscuits, Finger Biscuits