Viennese Whirls growing up and pretty much as they are today, are made with a combination of jam and cream. What separates them from your average jammy dodger is the light crumbly shortcake texture of the biscuit. For this recipe you don’t have to keep to the classic ‘mountain peak’ or Swirl shape, why not experiment with shortcake fingers or squares?
The real reason why you should go to the trouble of squeezing the dough through a piping bag is because it’s aesthetically pleasing and makes you look like a pro. So why not give it a try?
White Chocolate and Lemon Viennese Whirls
Biscuit
250g/9oz very soft unsalted butter
50g/2oz icing sugar, plus extra to decorate
250g/9oz plain flour
50g/2oz corn flour
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Filling
1/4 cup double cream
150g white chocolate chopped coarsely
1/4 cup (or more) lemon juice
1 tsp grated lemon rind
Yellow food colouring (optional)
For the Biscuit
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
Put the butter, icing sugar, plain flour, corn flour and vanilla extract in a food processor and blend until smooth. You may need to scrape the mixture down a couple of times with a rubber spatula.
Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe 16-18 in rosettes or swirls of the dough, spacing well apart.
Bake in the centre of the oven for 13-15 minutes or until pale golden-brown and firm. Cool on the baking tray for five minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with the remaining dough to make 32-36 biscuits.
For the filling
Bring cream to the boil in a small saucepan.
Remove from heat. Add chocolate and stir until completely smooth
Add food colouring and lemon juice to taste (you want to be able to taste the lemon, don’t let the chocolate be overpowering).
Refrigerate until spreadable (roughly 1 hour +)
With another piping bag swirl on the cream to one of the biscuits, sandwich the other biscuit together gently and dust with the icing sugar to finish.