Viennese Fingers

I wanted to have a go at piping and thought these biscuits looked simple enough for a beginner piper. My Viennese Fingers are not going to win any Great British Bake Off Star Baker awards, they’re all different shapes and sizes but they still tasted good.

During baking they’ve lost their definition and the recipe I had didn’t work too well for piping either.  So if you have any advice for piping beginners do let me know in the comments because I was ready to throw this mixture at the wall.

What you need:

Piping bag with a medium star nozzle

100g unsalted butter, softened
25g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g plain flour
1 tsp cornflour
1/4 tsp baking powder
100g milk or plain chocolate
2 – 3 tbsp. milk

What you do:

• Preheat your oven to 170°c and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
• Beat the sugar and the butter in a freestanding mixer until soft and light
• Add the vanilla and mix again
• Sift the corn flour, flour and baking powder into the bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
• My recommendation here is to add a couple of spoons of milk to make the dough easier to pipe – this had no detrimental effect

Now comes the hard bit, the bit I wrongly thought would be the fun part but actually was so stressful.  All for the sake of a biscuit!

The first nozzle I used in the first piping bag was too small,  therefore it was impossible to pipe (think bowling ball through the eye of a needle!)

Just look at this mess!

I then had to transfer the mixture to a second bag with a larger nozzle,  but I think I overfilled the bag because the bloody thing popped!!  At this point, I chucked the mixture back in the mixing bowl and added some milk to soften it up a bit, and off I went with a third piping bag! 🙂

• Spoon the dough into a piping bag and pipe approx. 10cm fingers onto the prepared tin
• Bake for approx. 10 – 12 minutes until golden brown
• Cool on a wire rack until cold

• Melt the chocolate in a heatproof dish over a simmering pan of water
• Dip both ends of the biscuit into the chocolate and leave to set on the greaseproof paper

Despite the absolute disastrous piping experience the biscuits turned out deliciously.  I just don’t know how I do it 😉

Just ignore how phallic they look!

Until next time…Happy Baking!