Viennese whirls are tender and buttery shortbread-like biscuits (cookies) that melt in your mouth, filled with vanilla buttercream and raspberry jam.
Ingredients
FOR THE BISCUITS
- 225 g unsalted butter very soft (8oz / 1 cup / 2 sticks)
- 100 g caster sugar (superfine sugar) (½ cup / 3 ½ oz)
- 3-5 teaspoons milk (notes 1& 2)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 225 g plain flour (all-purp flour) (1 ¾ cups / 8oz)
- 70 g cornflour (US cornstarch) (½ cup / 2 ½oz)
FOR THE FILLING
- ¼ cup raspberry jam (60ml)
- 100 g unsalted butter (3 ½oz)
- 170 g icing sugar (powdered sugar) (6oz / 1 ⅓ cup)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Equipment
- Stand mixer or handheld mixer
- Piping bag
- Large open star tip
- 2 Large baking sheets
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan forced) / 350F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and cornflour so they're evenly dispersed. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or hand held electric beater, beat together the butter, sugar and milk until very pale and creamy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl a couple of times throughout with a silicone spatula.
- Beat in the vanilla.
- Add the flour beating on low until it's incorporated. Just pulse to start so that it doesn’t fly up out of the bowl.
- Transfer the biscuit dough to a large piping bag with a large open star tip.
- Pipe the dough into rosettes about 4cm/ 1 ½ inches wide or so, about 2 inches apart on the prepared pan. You will need to apply firm pressure to the piping as it’s a stiff dough but if you just can’t get it to pipe, return it to the mixer and add another 2 teaspoons of milk (see notes 1 & 2).
- Chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes until just starting to brown on the edges. Let them cool on the baking tray for a few minutes, then use a spatula to help move the delicate biscuits to a wire rack to cool completely.
- While the biscuits cool, make the buttercream filling. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and bring it together with a spatula or wooden spoon, then swap to a handheld mixer and beat for a few minutes until lightened and fluffy. Add the vanilla and salt and beat again.
- Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag with a large star tip and pipe swirls of buttercream onto the flat side of half of the cooled biscuits.
- Spread just a little jam on the flat side of the remaining biscuits, then sandwich them together - place jam-side biscuits on top of the buttercream on the buttercream-side biscuits.
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Notes
- This is a very stiff dough and it's meant to be. That stiffness means that it will keep it's swirl shape upon baking. If you're finding it too tough to pipe, you can start by emptying the dough back into your mixer and add just a little more milk - 1-2 teaspoons more. Beat that through, then try piping again. The more milk you add, the less defined swirl you'll have after baking.
- In very cold weather, you’ll need to use more milk to loosen the dough. Make sure your butter is very soft to begin with, and in warm weather, use just the 3 teaspoons of milk. In cold weather, use the full 4-5 teaspoons.
- How pipeable the dough is will also depend on how soft you get the butter to start with. You don’t want it melted at all but you do need it very soft.
- If you don’t want to pipe your dough, just roll balls of cookie dough, then use the tines of a fork to press a pattern into the top. They won’t be swirls but they’ll still be pretty.
- For best results you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales like these are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- All ovens vary – check for doneness 3-4 minutes before the recipe suggests.
- Nutrition details are approximate only - scroll below the recipe to find the full nutritional information.
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Nutrition information is approximate only and derived from an online calculator. The brands you use and any changes you make may cause variations.
