Viennese Shortbread Biscuits Food

VIENNESE SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F. Grease two large oven trays; line with baking paper.
• Beat butter, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add sifted flours and 1 tablespoon water; beat until just combined.
• Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a medium fluted tube. Pipe 2cm × 6cm (¾in x 2½in) shapes onto trays, about 3cm (1¼in) apart.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until browned lightly and a biscuit can be pushed gently without breaking. Cool on trays.
• Sandwich biscuits together with ¾ teaspoon jam.
• Place chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl over a medium saucepan of simmering water (make sure the base of the bowl doesn't touch the water) stir until smooth. Remove bowl from heat. Dip biscuit ends in the chocolate; place on a baking-paper-covered wire rack to set.

LYDIA'S AUSTRIAN RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD

Steps:

• In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until soft and fluffy. Add the egg yolks and mix well.
• In a medium bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the butter/egg yolk mixture and mix just until incorporated and the dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and form into 2 balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and freeze at least 2 hours or overnight, or as long as a month.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Remove 1 ball of dough from the freezer and coarsely grate the frozen dough into the bottom of a 9 by 12-inch baking pan or a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Make sure the surface is covered evenly with shreds of dough. With a spoon or spatula, spread the jam over the surface, to within 1/2-inch of the edge all the way around. Remove the remaining dough from the freezer and coarsely grate it over the entire surface. Bake until light golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes. As soon as the shortbread comes out of the oven, dust with confectioners' sugar. Cool on a wire rack, then cut in the pan with a serrated knife.

VIENNESE WHIRLS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment. Put the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric hand whisk for about 5 mins until pale and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat again until fully incorporated.
• Sift in the flour, cornflour and baking powder, and fold into the mixture using a spatula until combined (the dough should have a tacky consistency). Spoon the dough into a piping bag fitted with a large star-shaped nozzle. If all the mixture doesn't fit, do it in 2 batches.
• Pipe swirly circles 5cm diameter onto 2 baking sheets making sure there are 3cm spaces between each swirl.
• Bake for 10-12 mins, swapping the trays over halfway through the cooking time so the biscuits are evenly baked, until pale golden and cooked through. Leave to cool on the baking sheets for a few mins, then transfer to wire racks.
• While the biscuits cool, make the filling. Put the softened butter in a large mixing bowl and add the icing sugar. Stir together initially with a wooden spoon then switch to electric beaters or a whisk to get the buttercream fluffy and smooth. Add the vanilla extract and beat once more to combine. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag and snip off the end.
• Turn the biscuits over so their flat side is facing up then pipe buttercream over half of the biscuits and spread a little jam on the rest. Sandwich a jam covered biscuit together with a buttercream one and repeat until all the biscuits are used up.

VIENNESE SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Cream the butter and sifted icing sugar until the mix is light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and a few drops of lemon essence. Using a wooden spoon, gently fold in the sifted flour.
• Pipe small shapes using a star tube onto greaseproof paper, then bake at 200C until light golden brown in colour.
• Note: You can pipe difference shapes like rosettes, whirls or stars, or place a glaced cherry in the centre as decoration prior to baking. When the biscuits have cooled after baking, you could half-dip them in chocolate, or pipe chocolate onto them.

VIENNESE SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add essence.
• Beat well.
• Fold in sifted flours and salt.
• Fill into piping bag fitted with fluted tube.
• Pipe into straight lengths or different shapes on greased oven tray.
• Bake in a moderate oven for 12- 15 minutes or until golden.
• Cool on tray.
• Leave plain or dip one end in about 125 gm (4oz) of melted dark chocolate for a pretty effect.
• Serve and enjoy!

VIENNESE VANILLA COOKIES

Steps:

• Cream butter and add sugar. Add 1/2 cup of flour mixing after each addition. Add remaining ingredients. Shape into a disk and then chill for 30 minutes. You can also put the dough in the freezer at this point.
• Begin to roll the dough the dough so that it is about 1/4-inch thick or a little more. Cut with cookie cutters. Place dough on parchment paper or a greased cookie sheet. I prefer using parchment paper. It's just easier.
• Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes or until the edges are a bit brown. You may need to lower your oven to 325 degrees F.
• You can also freeze or chill the dough in a log shape rather than a disk. If you do this, simply cut small rounds about 1/4 inch thick and place these rounds on the lined cookie sheet. These bake for 15 minutes. (This works well, if you want to transport dough to a friend's house and have kids form the cookies.)
• Once the cookies come out of the oven, either cool them on the cookie sheet or move the parchment paper to a cookie rack. As the cookies cool, but before they're fully cooled, sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.
• Arrange on a plate and don't blink because they'll disappear before you open your eyes. Eat.
• That's the classic Brown family cookie. Without it Christmas simply isn't Christmas. Sometimes I bring a batch from my Chicago home and that simply doesn't work. My sister and mother are upset that the house doesn't smell like Christmas...no cookie smell in the air. I'm often required to make many batches...and the cookies are eaten at all times
• and for all meals.
• These were the cookies we left for Santa...He regularly gobbled them up, leaving only a few crumbs on the plate and a note that said, "These are excellent cookies, the best I've had." In retrospect, the writing looked an awful lot like my father's... If they're good enough for Santa, I think they're good enough for anyone.

CHOCOLATE VIENNESE BISCUITS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
• Grease 2 large baking sheets.
• Into a bowl sift together the flour,cocoa and cornflour.
• In another large bowl beat the butter and icing sugar until fluffy.
• With the beater on low speed gradually add in the flour mixture and vanilla essence until it becomes a soft dough.
• Shape into'bar' shapes about 10cm long by 5cm wide.
• Bake about 15-20 minutes, rotating baking sheets at half-time.
• Keep an eye on them as they should only be slightly firm and all ovens are different.
• Cool on wire cooling rack until cool and firm.
• Dust with icing sugar.
• Dip one end of each cookie into melted chocolate and place back onto greaseproof paper and allow chocolate to set.
• Store in container with waxed paper between layers.

SHORTBREAD BISCUITS

Steps:

• Sift flour with salt, then cream the butter and caster sugar together until pale and creamy. With the motor running, gradually add the egg; if the mixture looks like it's curdling then add a tbsp of sifted flour.
• Put the mixer on it's lowest setting and add the flour gradually. Stop mixing as the mixture comes together.
• Roll out onto a floured surface; about 5mm thick. Cut out biscuits using the metal cutter ring. Now bake for about 20-30 minutes until lightly brown in colour.
• Let the biscuits cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.