Chocolate and pistachio Viennese whirls
- Published: 14 Nov 19
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
These melt-in-the-mouth Viennese whirls are so much better than the shop-bought version: crumbly shortbread-like biscuits dipped in melted milk chocolate and crushed pistachio nuts. They look gorgeous when served for afternoon tea – you can also make another batch swapping milk for white or dark chocolate and sprinkling with your choice of crushed nuts.
Or, how about these eye-catching vanilla and chocolate shortbread pinwheel biscuits at afternoon tea?
- Makes 15
- Hands-on time 15 min, oven time 8-10 min
Ingredients
- 125g unsalted butter, softened
- 25g unrefined golden icing sugar (we like Billington’s)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 125g plain flour
- 25g cornflour
For the decoration
- 150g milk chocolate, melted
- 40g shelled unsalted pistachios or hazelnuts, finely chopped (or use sugar sprinkles if you prefer)
You’ll also need…
- Piping bag fitted with a C4 star nozzle; 2 large baking sheets lined with non-stick baking paper
Method
- Heat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl using an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Stir in the flour and cornflour using a wooden spoon until fully combined.
- Spoon the biscuit dough into the piping bag, then pipe about 8 swirly biscuits (any shape or letters that you fancy) onto the lined baking sheets, leaving room for them to spread a little during baking. Bake for 8-10 minutes (no need to chill) until pale golden. The swirls will still be soft but will harden as they cool.
- Once cool, gently dip half of each biscuit in the melted chocolate, then decorate with the chopped nuts (or sprinkles as you prefer).
- Recipe from October 2019 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 172kcals
- Fat
- 11.3g (6.4g saturated)
- Protein
- 2.3g
- Carbohydrates
- 15.1g (7.3g sugars)
- Fibre
- 0.3g
- Salt
- 0.2g
delicious. tips
Next time add almond/lemon extract or grated orange zest to the dough in step 1. Or use white chocolate to decorate the biscuits in step 3.
The undecorated biscuits will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
Buy ingredients online
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