Viennese Fingers & Swirls by A Touch of Magic

VIENNESE FINGERS & SWIRLS

INGREDIENTS

250g Very Very soft butter

50g Icing sugar

250g Plain flour

50g Corn flour

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

BUTTERCREAM FILLING

100g Butter (Soft)

200g icing sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract

75g Seedless Jam or lemon curd (optional)

1 Tablespoon milk

METHOD

• Pre heat your oven to 180C & line a baking tray with parchment paper.
• Put your butter in your mixer and beat for a minute until nice and soft, followed by your icing sugar, add your vanilla extract, then your flour, corn flour and beat until a soft paste.
• You need the cookie paste to be quite soft as you will need to pipe it … if the paste is too stiff you will not be able to pipe, so make sure you beat your paste long enough about 2 minutes on medium speed. Scrap out the mixture from your bowl and fill a piping bag with an open star nozzle.
• Pipe 3’ long strips of cookie paste across the tray and space them well apart as they do spread a little when baking. You’ll get loads of Viennese fingers from this or pipe swirls if you’re feeling adventurous.
• It’s important to chill the cookies for at least 30minutes as they hold their distinct shape better once chilled.
• Bake in your oven for 10 -12 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. Check the cookies after 10minutes, you should have a lovely golden hue
• Cool on a rack while you make the filling, be careful as they are still very delicate.

FILLING

• Put all the ingredients into your mixer and beat the living daylights out of it for at least a minute, you’ll see the colour change from a buttery yellow to a pale cream.
• Using a piping bag you can pipe a trail on buttercream on one half of your Viennese finger, then sandwich with another on top. I love to then dip the tip one side with dark melted chocolate and leave to set on a tray.
• If you want to create the traditional Viennese Swirl, put a little raspberry jam on the base of one swirl and pipe some buttercream on another and sandwich together and dust with some icing sugar to finish.

KA-BOOM…. Afternoon Tea anyone …#sorted