These are my all time childhood and present day favourite biscuits! They look so pretty when baked and the use of cornstarch makes for an extra smooth and crumbly biscuit. I used the BBCs recipe to make the biscuit base and then simply melted down some dark chocolate and coconut oil for dipping.
Make sure to sift in the dry ingredients to get the perfect biscuit base! The recipe requires a piping bag and star shaped nozzle in order to create the infamous Viennese Whirl shape. However, if you do not have this you can still make these biscuits! Rather than piping the dough, simply use a teaspoon to scoop the dough onto your baking tray and press down to lightly and slightly flatten. You can even gently press the back of a fork onto the dough to create a criss-cross patter instead. You won't get the whirls but you will certainly still get the flavour.
Hope you all enjoy this tea time treat!
Makes 18 biscuits | Total Time: 1 hour | Medium Difficulty
Ingredients:
200g butter, softened
50g icing sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
2 tsp cornflour
½ tsp baking powder
100g melted dark or milk chocolate
½ tsp melted coconut oil
Method:
Line two baking trays with greaseproof/baking parchment and preheat your oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
Add the softened butter and icing sugar into a clean bowl and beat by hand or using an electric mixer until the mixture is pale and fluffy.
Next add the vanilla and beat into the mixture until it is incorporated
Sift in the remaining dry ingredients (flour, cornflour and baking powder) and using a spatula gently fold them into the mix. Your dough should have a sticky consistency but not so extreme that it is too wet to work with or place in a piping bag. (See description in intro if you do not have piping bag)
Using a piping bag with a star nozzle attachment, spoon in the biscuit dough. You may need to do this in more than one batch if your piping bag is small
In a swirling motion begin to pipe a spiral circle onto your baking sheet, roughly 5cm wide. Make sure each circle is spaced at least 2-3cm apart. You can always lightly pencil an outline onto your baking parchment so you know how big to make the circles and the biscuits all end up the same size.
Once piped, bake the biscuits in the oven for 10-12 minutes until cooked through and evenly. They should not be the usual golden brown you expect from a cookie but rather a pale golden colour.
Leave to cool on the baking trays for a few minutes and then transfer them onto a cooling rack. If you try to move them too soon they may begin to crumble. Keep the baking parchment on your trays and allow these to completely cool too for later use.
Meanwhile, melt your chocolate and coconut oil. To do this you can use a microwave but I prefer to use a 'Bain Marie'.
Place the chocolate and coconut oil into a bowl and then place this bowl on top of a pot of simmering water. The bowl will need to be bigger than the pot as you want to make sure it is just hovering above and not actually sitting on and touching the water. It is the steam that you are using rather than the simmering hot water to melt the chocolate and oil. Stir slowly and continuously until melted and make sure to keep adjusting the heat so the water does not boil over.
Once the chocolate is melted and the biscuits are completely cooled, dip the biscuits one at a time into the chocolate so that half the biscuit is coated and the other half remains plain. You can do this in whatever way you please - you may prefer to only coat the bottom of the biscuit or do an entire half as I have.
When coated in chocolate gently place the biscuits onto the baking parchment on the cooled trays. When you have finished coating all the biscuits in chocolate you can pop the trays into the fridge for a few minutes to help the chocolate cool and harden.
Hope you all enjoy baking these biscuits as much as I enjoy eating them! Feel free to experiment with different types of chocolate or additional spices into the biscuit dough. And let me know how you get on. Happy baking!
Natasha x
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