One afternoon I was sitting in the garden and really wanted to have some Viennese Whirls to eat. 

Making these tasty tender delights were an absolute treat for me as I haven't made these for a while and it was a perfect excuse for me to make them again.



These Viennese Whiles are so tasty and delicious - they are tender melt in your mouth butter cookies slathered with raspberry jam and a beautiful light vanilla buttercream filling.

These little tender biscuits are really easy to make. There are a few tips and techniques along the way that you should know:

  • Find a 5 cm width cookie cutter and draw on the back of the baking paper 16 circles. These will be your template and guide to piping your dough onto.

  • The butter must be very soft in order to pipe the dough into swirls.

  • Pipe the dough slowly and make sure it a thick line inside the circle template. Start to pipe the circle in a clockwise motion and contuine to pipe towards the centre in a swirl pattern.

  • If you make a few errors along the way, you can always use the best swirls for the biscuit tops.

  • Don't get carried away and add too much jam - spread about half a teaspoon in the centre of one biscuit swirl and pipe the buttercream in a swirl on the other biscuit swirl and sandwich them together.


SCROLL DOWN FOR THE RECIPE




VIENNESE WHIRLS

Prep Time: 20 mins
Fridge Time: 30 mins
Cook Time 15 mins

Ingredients

For the biscuits:

250g soft unsalted butter
50g icing sugar
225g plain flour
25g cornstarch
Pinch of salt

For the fillings:

100g soft unsalted butter, room temperature
200g sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Raspberry jam


Method

Line 2 large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 5cm wide round cookie cutter as a guide, draw 16 circles on each piece of paper, spaced at least 1 inch apart. Turn the parchment paper over so the pencil marks are on the bottom and set aside.

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip. Set aside.

Combine the butter and icing sugar in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat them together until light and fluffy. Sift the flour, cornstarch and salt together over the butter mixture. Beat on low until just combined, then beat on medium speed until blended. Scoop the mixture into the prepared piping bag.

Pipe the dough into thick swirled rounds ending in the centre with a little peak. Take your time to pipe the dough as the dough is alittle stiff. The biscuits will spread a little when baking so do not pipe the circles big, but within the circle templates. 

Refrigerate the unbaked cookies for 30 minutes before baking. This will help the biscuits keep their shape. Repeat with the remaining dough.

After 30 minutes in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 190C degrees. Bake the sheets, one at a time for 10 - 15 minutes. (Mine took 15 minutes. Please check them at 10 minutes as all ovens vary in temperature) The biscuits should be light golden brown around the edges. They are best when just slightly golden at the bottom. 

Cool on the baking tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled, set the biscuits into the refrigerator while you make the filling.


To prepare the filling:

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a medium star tip. Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until light, smooth and fluffy. Spoon the buttercream into the prepared piping bag.

Spoon about 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp of jam onto one of the flate side of half a biscuit. Pipe buttercream onto the flat side of the remaining biscuit. Gently sandwich the two sides together using one with buttercream and one with jam. Repeat until all biscuits are filled.

These Viennese Whirls can be stored in an air tight container for 3 days and up to 5 days in the fridge.


NOTE:

I find it easy to fill these biscuits by use a wire rack to keep these biscuits from melting in the middle. It keeps them upright and when all the biscuits are filled, store them in the fridge for 20 minutes will firm them up and keep their shape.

These Viennese Whirls do taste nice at room temperature but they taste even better when they are cold from the refrigerator.