I’m not gonna lie to you, I had never heard of a Viennese Whirl until this past November. If you’d have asked me, it was some type of beautiful Austrian dance. That being said, now they are probably one of my top 10 favorite cookies. I mean who doesn’t love a butter cookie sandwiched around tangy buttercream? 

These cookies make you feel fancy without requiring a ton of work. They give you some practice with a piping bag and allow you to experiment with buttercream flavors. With a dusting of powdered sugar on top I mean, what’s not to love?

To note, highly recommend using a digital scale for measurement accuracy with this recipe.

Give these a whirl - see what I did there? And see if they don’t land on your own top 10.

Equipment:

• Mixer (hand or standing)

• Zester

• Fine mesh strainer

• Measuring cups or digital scale

• Measuring spoons

• Spatula

Yields: 24, 1-inch sandwich cookies 

Ingredients:

• Cookie

• 13.5 tbsp (175g) butter, softened

• 5 tbsp (73g) sugar

• ¼ lemon, zested

• 1 ½ cups (170g) all-purpose flour

• ¼ cup (35g) cornstarch

• Buttercream

• 7.5 tbsp (100g) butter, softened

• 2 cups (200g) powdered sugar

• ¼ cup (60g) fruit puree* 

Directions

• Cookie

• With your mixer on low speed, beat together your butter, sugar, and zest. Then turn your mixer up to high speed for two minutes*- set a time. The mixture should become much paler.

• In a separate bowl, sift together your flour and cornstarch.

• Once your butter mixture is ready, add in your flour/corn starch mixture and cut through with a spatula from the top of the bowl to the bottom, to cut down on “dust.” Quickly combine with mixer to finish. The mixture should have a pipeable consistency.

• Transfer to a piping bag with a fluted (star) nozzle.

• On a parchment paper-covered baking tray, pipe* cookies in clockwise circles, about an inch to an inch and a half in diameter. Make sure to leave no gaps in your circle, These will spread a little as they bake so I prefer to be on the smaller side. You should look like you have a tray full of snails by the end of it

• Place cookie-covered baking tray into the fridge for 30 minutes to firm

• Preheat oven to 338F convection (374 non-convection)

• Bake 13-15 minutes*, until nicely golden in color.

• Immediately remove cookies from the baking tray. Simply slide the parchment paper with your cookies off the tray onto your counter and then use a pallet knife or spatula to place them onto a cooling rack.

• Cool completely before icing.

• Buttercream

• In a bowl, beat butter with a mixer until soft and glossy

• Add half of your sugar and, using a spatula, smear it in lightly before completely incorporating it with your mixer. This will save you from a dust plume if you go for the mixer first.

• Add in the remaining sugar and combine.

• In a small saucepan, add your fruit puree and reduce until you can draw a line through it and it holds

• Add your fruit puree to the butter/sugar mixture and combine

• You can leave the buttercream in the bowl or place it in a piping bag. 

• Flip one cooled cookie over (flat side up) and, depending on the size of your cookie, place about a teaspoon of buttercream on it. Take another cookie, flat side down, and gently press on top of the buttercream. Repeat until all the cookies have been sandwiched.

• If desired, place cookies together, and lightly dust them with powdered sugar. It adds a little pizzazz to your overall look.

• Enjoy!

Notes:

• Instead of a fruit puree, you can sub in a squeeze of vanilla paste (or approx. ¼ tsp vanilla extract) or a teaspoon of lemon juice 

• It’s imperative to the structure of the cookie to beat the first mixture for two minutes, to help aerate the butter. Set a timer and count the tiles on your backsplash or whatever you need to do to maintain that time.

• This batter is stiff, so take your time piping. You will likely need to use your finger to gently pull the tip from the tray after each circle.

• If using two trays and baking together in the oven, bake for eight minutes and then switch the positions of the trays and complete your bake.

• I received this recipe from Chef Ashley during my patisserie course in Scotland.

Don’t forget to tag @accentgolden on social with pictures of your creations! I love to see what you’re baking.