It’s perfect Viennese whirl time now.
The weather is warmer so if you leave your butter out, it should be the exact soft consistency you need. That is to say, really, really soft, but not liquid. It’s a tricky thing to achieve otherwise, albeit not impossible.
(In a pinch, I’d recommend the Mary Berry-method of cutting fridge-cold butter into chunks and throwing them into a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes. When the time is up, tip away the water and hold back the butter with your fingers and it should be soft but not runny. Here’s a link to the video)
Anyway, if you can, leave your butter out on your kitchen counter overnight or for a good few hours during the day and you’ll be whirl-ready.
Whirls have always saved the day for me. When I had coffee buttercream to use up (after a macaron disaster – read about that here), I whipped up a batch of coffee whirls and they were delectable. This week, I had lime cream cheese icing left over, after my carrot cake experiments. Ginger-spiced whirls did the trick again.
I find that most bakes need some reworking or adjustment. The first attempt often goes a little awry and thus shouldn’t be counted on. But not so with Viennese whirls.
They are remarkably well-behaved. I’m not saying that my coffee or ginger whirls were perfect sizes. One of my trays was slightly underbaked and they all spread more than I expected. However, they were presentable and delicious, which is really all I ask!
The things you need to know are: (1) you need to have soft butter to start with, or you’ll never attain a batter that can be piped, (2) giving the piped whirls time in the fridge to firm them up will help them keep the definition, but isn’t essential, (3) they spread a lot so need to be well spaced outing (4) they are very fragile when they are warm, so leave them to cool completely before sandwiching them together and make sure that the filling is very soft too so you don’t need to apply too much pressure to spread it on
Equipment needed: piping bag with a star nozzle, 2 baking trays and baking paper to line
Ingredients
Ginger whirls
- 200g very soft unsalted butter
- 50g icing sugar
- 175g plain flour
- 25g cornflour
- 3 tsp ground ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp mixed spice
Lime filling
- 200g icing sugar
- 75g unsalted butter
- 100g cream cheese
- 1 lime
Method
Line the baking trays with baking paper, so the whirls don’t stick.
Beat together the very soft butter and icing sugar until pale.
Sieve over the flour, cornflour, ginger, cinnamon and mixed spice and beat well again.
Fit the star nozzle into your piping bag and fill with the biscuit batter.
Pipe small whirls of batter (about 4cm across) onto the baking sheet, spaced well apart. To do this, make a ring with the batter, as you squeeze it out. When you reach the point where you started, spiral in to ‘fill in’ the circle and press down when you reach the middle, as you lift the piping bag away from the baking sheet. Don’t worry if they’re a bit wonky – as they bake, the shape will change anyway and they will still be delicious!
Put the baking trays in the fridge for 30 minutes. Turn the oven on to 170C 10 minutes before the end of the chilling time.
Bake each tray in turn for 17-20 minutes, until the whirls change colour to a golden brown.
Leave them to cool completely.
For the filling, beat together the icing sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the cream cheese, zest of a lime and a tablespoon of lime juice and beat again, until just smooth, but no more!
Pair up whirls of the same size and shape. Spread the flat side of one of each pair with a couple of teaspoons of filling and gently press the flat side of the other whirl on top to make little biscuit sandwiches.
Leave to firm up at room temperature (or pop in the fridge if it’s a very warm day). Keep them in an airtight container.