Charlotte Chantilly, Aux Framboises

For the ladyfingers:

Preheat oven to 300ºF. Prepare two 12 x 24″ baking sheets by buttering lightly and then dusting with flour. Knock off the excess. Set aside.

With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, gradually add the sugar to the egg yolks and the vanilla. Continue beating until the mixture is pale yellow, thick and forms a ribbon. This will take a few minutes.

Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle in the sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed. Scoop a quarter of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture with a quarter of the flour. Fold in with a spatula. Continue adding another quarter of the egg whites and a quarter of the flour until all is used up and just incorporated, leaving your batter light and fluffy.

Now scoop the batter into a pastry bag fitted round opening 1/2″ in diameter. Pipe the fingers out slowly making them 4″ long and 1 1/2″ wide. Sprinkle on the icing sugar. If there is too much you can turn the pan over and the excess will fall off but the fingers will stay on the tray. Try it, it really works! Bake in the middle of the oven until very pale brown underneath their sugar coating, about 20 minutes.

These can be served on their own or used in the dessert to follow.

For the Charlotte Chantilly, Aux Framboises:

Wash and check over the raspberries. Run them through a fine sieve and into a bowl, measuring out 1 1/4 cups of puree. You should have berries left over. Chill.

Beat the sugar into the egg yolks with a wire attachment on a electric mixer and continue beating until mixture is pale yellow and falls back on itself, forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Now place the bowl over not quite simmering water and and beat until the mixture had thickened into a cream and becomes too hot for your finger. Remove the bowl and set in now in a bowl of iced water and continue to beat until the mixture is cold again, forming a slowly dissolving ribbon. Set aside and beat the cream until stiff peaks form. Fold the chilled raspberry puree into the egg yolk mixture and then fold in the whipped cream. Place the ladyfingers into the bottom of a individually serving dish and top with the raspberry filing. Refrigerate until set and completely cold. Decorate with the remaining berries.

Excerpted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. Copyright © 1961 by Alfred A. Knopf. Reprinted with permission from the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.