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Recipe: Viennese whirl biscuits

July 29, 2024 Leave a Comment Filed Under: Afternoon tea, Austria, Baking, British food, Desserts and sweets, Food, Recipes


Viennese whirls don’t come from Austria but from England. However the texture was inspired by the Spritzgebäck biscuit, also in a whirl shape and with a similar dry crumbly almost shortbread texture.

My friend Jim who is visiting bought some Viennese whirls which frankly weren’t very nice. I decided to try my hand at making them, using a BBC food recipe. I often find if I recreate something from scratch, I start to like it. These were gorgeous and everybody liked them. Definitely a recipe on rotation now.

I added a little milk however as they are hard to pipe otherwise. Mine look very home-made, none of them are the same size, or have the same piped whirl. I like that. They each have a little personality.

I don’t understand why on the Great British Bake-off the judges are obsessed with uniformity. We are home bakers!

Print

Viennese Whirl biscuit recipe

Course Afternoon Tea, Biscuits, Dessert, Snacks
Cuisine British
Keyword Biscuit recipes, Viennese whirl biscuits
Serves 12

Ingredients

For the biscuits

  • 200 g salted butter, softened
  • 50 g icing sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla paste or scraped out pod
  • 200 g plain flour
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp whole milk

For the filling

  • 100 g butter, softened
  • 170 g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste or a scraped out pod
  • 50 g jam

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 180C and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.
  • Put the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl/stand mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla.
  • Sift in the flour, cornflour, baking powder and milk. Fold into the butter/ sugar mixture until combined (the dough should have a thick, stiff consistency but not so stiff you cannot pipe it).
  • Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle.
  • Pipe swirly circles 5cm diameter onto 2 baking sheets. Make sure there are spaces between each swirl as they will expand when baking.
  • Bake for 10-12 mins, turning the trays around halfway through the cooking time so the biscuits are evenly baked, until pale gold. 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 and vanilla. Beat until fluffy and smooth. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag and snip off the end.
  • Arrange the biscuits into pairs, turning them over so the flat side is facing up. Spread half of them with jam. I used home-made plum jam that I had left over in a jar.
  • Pipe the buttercream on the other half.
    Pair up the biscuits, putting them together until you have a jam half and a buttercream half sandwiched together. Serve with a lovely cup of tea or coffee.

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

This is my food and travel blog, with recipes, reviews and travel stories. I also stray into politics, feminism, gardening.

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