Viennese Whirls

Viennese whirls are now offically my favourite biscuits. I think of them as a clever combination of shortbread and butterfly fairy cakes - rich buttery biscuits with a lovely light texture sandwiched together with raspberry jam and buttercream. Best of all, they're dead easy to make!

Viennese Whirls (makes 10)

125g unsalted butter, softened

25g icing sugar

25g cornflour

125g plain flour

couple drops vanilla extract

For the filling:

50g unsalted butter, softened

100g icing sugar

couple drops vanilla extract

5 tsp raspberry jam

1. Pre heat oven to 190° (fan 170°) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
2. Put the butter, icing sugar, cornflour, plain flour and vanilla extract into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth mixture.

  

3. Pop it into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe 20 whirls around 4-5cm in size.

4. Bake for 10-14 minutes until they start to turn a light golden colour.

5. To make the filling beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla until smooth. Spread half a teaspoon or so of jam onto half of the biscuits and pipe or spread buttercream onto the other half. Gently press together and finish with a light dusting of icing sugar.

Rose Water Biscuits

This week was one of those weeks when I was in need of a little something to get me going, and that's where these sweet biscuits came in. Once I'd had one (or two, or perhaps it was three...) of these with a cuppa I felt ready to take on anything. Well, you know, mostly dull stuff like the housework.

These would be great for a girly tea party and you could always substitute the rose water for vanilla or lemon extract for a different flavour and use different colours to decorate.

Rose Water Biscuits (makes around 30)

90g unsalted butter

100g caster sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp rose water

225g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

To decorate:

250g icing sugar

1-2 tbsp rose water

a little cold water
a small amount of food colouring paste/liquid

sprinkles/sugar flowers

1. Beat butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add egg and rose water and beat until fully incorporated.
2. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until you have a light dough (it should feel a little springy).
3. Wrap in cling film and pop in the fridge for about half an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 180°C (160° fan) and line two trays with baking paper.
5. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 5mm thickness. Cut out rounds (I used a 5cm fluted cutter) and place on prepared trays, leaving a cm gap between each biscuit.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool for 5 minutes then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
7. Sift icing sugar into a bowl, add rose water, a dash or two of cold water and the colouring. Mix until you have a good consistency for icing the biscuits, adding more water or icing sugar as necessary.
8. Spoon or pipe onto cooled biscuits. Place any decorations on straight away before the icing starts to set.