Viennese Biscuits Recipes

VIENNESE FINGERS

Steps:

• Pre-heat your oven to 190°c (170°c for fan assisted ovens or Gas Mark 5) and line a couple of baking sheets with greaseproof paper. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter/margarine and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift in the flour and cornflour to create a paste-like dough.
• Take a small amount of your dough (about the size of a ping-pong ball) and roll into a sausage shape. Place onto your prepared baking sheets and score with a fork. Repeat with the rest of the dough, leaving space between each.Alternatively you can pipe the biscuits using a star nozzle and a cloth piping bag, if you desire. A plastic piping bag will not work however (see notes above).
• Bake in your pre-heated oven for 10-12 minutes until the biscuits have spread a little, look dry and have a slight golden colour. Leave to cool on the tray.
• Once your biscuits have cooled, melt your chocolate over a bain marie or in short blasts in a microwave. Dip either end of your biscuits in the chocolate, before placing back onto the grease proof paper. When all biscuits have chocolate on, pop them in the fridge to set.
• While the chocolate is setting, in a large bowl mix the butter/margarine and icing sugar, until light and fluffy to create your butter cream filling. Pipe or spread a small amount of buttercream onto a biscuit, before sandwiching another biscuit on top. Repeat with the remaining biscuits and buttercream.

VIENNESE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Beat butter and sugar till pale.
• To quicken it up slightly, beat over a bowl of hot water but not too much it shouldn't be runny Sift in flour.
• Put mixture in a large star piping bag and pipe as you want.
• Tradionally this should be tubes or whirls.
• Chill for 15 minutes.
• bake 10 minutes at 190°C.
• They should not be brown, they stay pale.
• When cool-- melt some chocolate, I use a mixture of 70% cocoa butter and ord.
• milk use a small deep container (egg cup is good).
• dip each tube or whirl in chocolate.
• lay on baking parchment and set in fridge.
• Great to serve with ice cream or my.
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VIENNESE WHIRLS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Put the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk for about 5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until fully incorporated.
• Sift in the flour, cornflour and baking powder, and fold into the mixture using a spatula until combined (the dough should have a tacky consistency). Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle. If all the mixture doesn't fit, do it in 2 batches.
• Pipe swirly circles 5cm diameter onto 2 baking sheets making sure there are 3cm spaces between each swirl.
• Bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through the cooking time so the biscuits are evenly baked, until pale golden and cooked through. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few mins, then transfer to wire racks.
• While the biscuits cool, make the filling. Put the softened butter in a large mixing bowl and add the icing sugar. Stir together initially with a wooden spoon then switch to electric beaters or a whisk to get the buttercream fluffy and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and beat once more to combine. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag and snip off the end.
• Turn the biscuits over so their flat side is facing up then pipe buttercream over half of the biscuits and spread a little jam on the rest. Sandwich a jam covered biscuit together with a buttercream one and repeat until all the biscuits are used up.

CHOCOLATE VIENNESE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
• Grease 2 large baking sheets.
• Into a bowl sift together the flour,cocoa and cornflour.
• In another large bowl beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy.
• With the beater on low speed gradually add in the flour mixture and vanilla essence until it becomes a soft dough.
• Shape into'bar' shapes about 10cm long by 5cm wide.
• Bake about 15-20 minutes, rotating baking sheets at half-time.
• Keep an eye on them as they should only be slightly firm and all ovens are different.
• Cool on wire cooling rack until cool and firm.
• Dust with icing sugar.
• Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate and place back onto greaseproof paper and allow chocolate to set.
• Store in container with waxed paper between layers.

LEMON VIENNESE BISCUITS

Steps:

• For the lemon curd, put the lemon zest and juice, the sugar and the butter into a heatproof bowl. Sit the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, making sure the water is not touching the bottom of the bowl. Stir the mixture every now and again until all of the butter has melted.
• Lightly whisk the eggs and egg yolk and stir them into the lemon mixture. Whisk until all of the ingredients are well combined, then leave to cook for 10-13 minutes, stirring every now and again, until the mixture is creamy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
• Remove the lemon curd from the heat and set aside to cool, stirring occasionally as it cools. Once cooled, spoon the lemon curd into sterilised jars and seal. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
• For the biscuits, preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/Gas 5. Line 3 baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment. Using a 5cm/2in round cutter as a guide, draw 8 circles on each sheet of paper, spaced well apart. Turn the paper over so the pencil marks are underneath.
• Measure the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Sift in the flour and cornflour and beat well, until thoroughly mixed. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle. Hold the nozzle of the piping bag just above the centre of the circle and squeeze until the batter reaches the edge of the circle to leave a round biscuit with a point at the top. If you are feeling ambitious, use a star nozzle to pipe the classic whirl shape.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 13-15 minutes, until a pale golden-brown. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and harden.
• Bake in the centre of the oven for 13-15 minutes, until a pale golden-brown. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely and harden.
• For the filling, measure the butter into a bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Add the vanilla extract and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric whisk until very light and smooth. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
• Spoon a little lemon curd onto the flat side of 12 of the biscuits and place curd-side up on a cooling rack. Pipe the buttercream over the jam and sandwich with the remaining biscuits. Dust with icing sugar to finish.