Viennese Whirls

Buttery and melt in the mouth a Viennese While, filled with jam and cream, is perfection.

I do love those soft, melt in the mouth, biscuits that are known as Viennese Whirls.  Often sandwiched together with a buttercream and jam filling and sometimes with just a thin layer of chocolate on the underside they are so good.

I have made them before but wasn’t entirely happy with the results so I decided I would try again.  This time I used a cut down version of a recipe on the BBC Food website, from the Hairy Bikers.  That recipe says that it will make about 32 biscuits, but I used half the measures and only got 10 biscuits, so I think their’s must’ve been smaller than stated. So 10 biscuits make 5 sandwiched biscuits which was actually ideal for me.  The recipe is easily scaled up to make more.  Piping smaller shapes would also increased the yield, if desired.

My biscuit did lose a little definition during baking, so I wonder if chilling them before placing in the oven might help retain the full definition.  But in any event they turned out very nicely.  The biscuit texture was soft, and melted in the mouth and perfectly complimented the sweet buttercream and the jam.

I think I shall make another batch of these in the lead up to Christmas, for family members to enjoy.

Butter Cookies are a good alternative too.

Ingredients:
For the biscuits:

• 125g(1stick + 1 tbsp) very soft unsalted butter
• 125g(1/2 cup + 1/3 cup) plain flour, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup.
• 25g(3 tbsp) icing sugar
• 25g(3 tbsp) cornflour
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

For the filling:

• 100g(3/4 cup + 1 tbps) icing sugar
• 50g(3 1/2 tbsp) softened unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 40g(heaped tbsp) raspberry jam

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/350F.
2. Line a couple of baking trays with parchment that have had some 2 1/2inch circles drawn(for piping into).  Parchment paper should be inked side down.
3. In a food processor place the flour, salt, icing sugar, and cornflourand give a quick mix to combine.
4. Add the butter and vanilla extract and process until the mixture becomes a thick paste(you may have to scrape down the sides of the bowl).
5. Put the batter into a piping bag that is fitted with a star nozzle.
6. Pipe circles of the batter onto the prepared parchment paper.
7. Bake in the oven for 13 to 15 minutes, until the biscuits just take on a pale golden colour.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Turn half the biscuits over to show the underside.
10. Cream the butter and sugar together, adding the vanilla extract too, until it is light and fluffy.
11. Place the buttercream into a piping bag and pipe onto the turned over biscuits, in a circle.
12. Spread some jam on the underside of the remaining biscuit and sandwich onto the buttercream to make the Viennese Swirl Sandwiches.