Chilled Zabaglione (Bill Granger) with Savoiardi Biscuits

We are not having eggnog this Christmas... Instead, we are having chilled zabaglione served with Savoiardi biscuits! - Both are nice, light and airy treats. Together, they are perfect for our summery Christmas!

Zabaglione is an Italian dessert or sweet beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, and a sweet wine, usually Marsala wine. Zabaglione, being the dessert version is typically very light, whipped to incorporate a large amount of air.

Accordingly to Wikipedia, this Italian dessert is in fact very popular in many countries. In US, zabaglione is usually served in a champagne glass with fruits such as strawberries, blueberries, and peaches. Zabaglione is also known as sabayon in France, sambayón in Argentina and Uruguay, sabajón in Colombia and sambayón in Venezuela.

Why is zabaglione such a popular dessert around the world? Simply because it tastes really light, creamy and good!!!

In Venezuela, there is also a related egg-based dessert drink called ponche crema which is consumed mostly exclusively at Christmas time. Adapting this similar idea, I love having zabaglione for our Christmas too.

Having a high amount of Marsala wine in each serve of dessert, I wouldn't recommend serving this dessert little kids. I can substitute Marsala with juice but zabaglione without Marsala are simply NOT REAL!!! 

Boy, tasting itsy bitsy tiny bit of zabaglione: This custard is yummy! Can I have more, please?
Mum, feeling extremely guilty: Only if you are older... eeer... Have more sponge biscuits!

Sorry son! All I can allow is to give you just a lick of a spoon - Ops!

Chilled Zabaglione with Savoiardi Biscuits - Perfect for our summery Christmas :)

The ingredients to make zabaglione

whisk and microwave, whisk and microwave, whisk and microwave...

... and serve after well-chilled

Making the Savoiardi biscuits

The sponge biscuits after baking ...

They are good being spoons to scoop and eat zabaglione...

Good too being on its own... Son, these sponge biscuits are for you :p

Before proceeding on to the recipes, you might ask why am I baking the Savoiardi biscuits using this All Recipes.com recipe. To be honest, I didn't really plan ahead to bake these Savoiardi biscuits and used this recipe as it is an obvious highly-rated recipe that I can find with the help of Googling. Thanks Google and All Recipes! These Savoiardi biscuits are fantastic!

Here are the recipes
(with my modification and notes in blue)

Chilled Zabaglione from the books, Best of Bill by Bill Granger 

Serves 4
6 egg yolks
80 g caster (superfine) sugar
(reduced to 20g for 1/3 of the recipe)
185 ml Marsala
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract
(replaced with vanilla paste)
185 ml cream, lightly whipped

To serve with savoiardi (lady fingers) biscuits

Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, Marsala, lemon zest and vanilla in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water for about 5-6 mins, or until the mixture is light and frothy. - I did that with lots of whisking and microwaving mixture with short bursts of medium-low power. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Fold in the lightly whipped cream, then pour into four glasses or a serving dish. Chill for at least 2 hrs.

Serve with savoiardi biscuits, if you wish.

Note: Using 1/3 of the recipe, I made 2 serves of chilled zabaglione filling half of 2 small drinking glasses.

Savoiardi biscuits from All Recipes.com

4 eggs
2/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C or 170°C fan forced). Line baking trays with parchment paper (or silicon mats). Prepare a pastry bag with a size 6 tip (1/2 inch) - I used Wilton tip 1A. Separate the eggs. Whisk the egg yolks with 1/2 of the sugar and all of the vanilla. Beat until very light colored. This will take about 5 mins.

In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until they hold soft peaks. While beating, slowly add the salt and the remaining sugar until combined. Gently fold the beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Sift the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in.

Fill the pastry bag with half of the batter and pipe 3 1/2 inch fingers, 1 1/2 inches apart, in rows on the parchment paper. Continue with the second half of the batter in the same manner. - Batter can be quite runny and would require fast piping to get biscuits into good shapes.

Bake at 375°F (190°C or 170°C fan forced) for about 15 mins until firm to the touch and golden. Remove the paper and fingers from the baking sheet and place on racks to cool. After cooling, remove fingers from the paper and use, or store between layers of wax paper in a airtight container. These freeze well.

Note: Using half of the recipe, I made 12 sponge fingers and baked them at 170°C fan forced for 15 mins and at 160°C fan forced for another 10 mins.

Happy Baking
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