Juliet Sear's Viennese whirls
Juliet's melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are the perfect treat to give our mums this Mother's day, and a great addition to an afternoon tea to spoil our loved ones.
Viennese whirls
Serves: 10 sandwich biscuits
Ingredients
For the biscuits
250g softened unsalted butter1 tsp vanilla extract50g icing sugar220g plain flour60g cornflour½ tsp salt
Filling ingredients (optional)
100g unsalted butter, softened 200g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting½ tsp vanilla extractStrawberry jam for spreading
Approximately 150g dark, milk and or white chocolate, melted
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 170C fan
2. Line two to three baking sheets with non-stick baking parchment paper
3. Using a 5cm round cutter as a guide, draw circles on each sheet of paper, spaced well apart. Alternatively, you can draw circles or different shapes by hand. Turn the paper over so the pen or pencils marks are underneath.
4. For the biscuits: Place the butter, vanilla and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Sieve in the flour, cornflour and salt together and beat until thoroughly mixed but be careful not to over-mix.
5. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large open star nozzle. Pipe swirled rounds inside the circular or shaped guides on the baking sheets. Chill for roughly 30 minutes.
6. Remove the trays from the fridge and bake in the centre of the preheated oven for approximately 13—15 minutes, until a pale golden-brown. Cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Bake in batches if need be.
7. For the buttercream: Meanwhile, if you are making a buttercream filling, in a bowl beat together the butter and the icing sugar and vanilla.
8. To finish the biscuit when they are cool, if filling with the jam and buttercream, simply spread some of the jam onto one biscuit with a spoon and then pipe the buttercream onto another biscuit and then sandwich together. Use a star nozzle for piping if you have one.
9. Alternatively, dip the biscuit in the melted chocolate to cover part or all of the biscuit.
10. The biscuits are best eaten on the same day