Double Chocolate Stem Ginger Viennese Fingers

Christmas Cookie No.2

Hello! Happy Thursday!

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This week I am back with another cookie for the festive season, and while I should probably do something that isn’t chocolate for a change, today is not that day. Following on from last week's recipe, the inspiration for today's recipe is continuing along a similar path. Viennese fingers are a classic of British biscuit tins, and most commonly they come as a buttery vanilla cookie filled with a simple vanilla cream half dipped in chocolate. The original version, the Viennese Whirl, is made with a vanilla buttercream filling, paired with a little jam. This version is still made and sold by their original creator, Mr. Kipling. My version amps everything up a little, a cocoa-spiked cookie, a stem ginger filling, and of course they’re dipped in chocolate.

Viennese fingers are an adaptation of Viennese whirls, a round version of the biscuit that has been around since sometime in the 20th century (I couldn’t find a more specific date, but it's likely to have been around the 1960s/70s). What with their name, you’d imagine these originated in Austria, but that’s not quite true. The biscuit was created in the UK, but they’re very much inspired by the Austrian Spritzgebäck better known as Spritz cookies. They are also very closely related to melting moments, or yo-yos, which are very popular in Australia and New Zealand. This style of biscuit is characterised by a light, crumbly texture, which is commonly achieved through the addition of corn flour (cornstarch) which makes the biscuits especially light.

For folks in America, I know that today is Thanksgiving, so for those of you stateside, you can enjoy your pumpkin and pecan pies today and bookmark this when you start baking Christmas cookies. Me? I am definitely getting into the festive spirit. For a brief moment today I almost did my annual rewatch of Home Alone, but I decided it was still a touch too early for that. Maybe when it's actually December, I’ll go full-on Christmas mode.

To make these cookies, there are a few tips to ensure a fun experience and a picture-perfect biscuit:

1. Make sure the butter is very soft. These cookies are piped, and if the butter is too cold and firm, you’ll a) end up overmixing the biscuit, making them tough, and b) the dough will be too firm, and it’ll be close to impossible to pipe.

2. Chill the biscuits very well. After the biscuits have been piped, you need to thoroughly chill them before they’re baked. This will help the biscuits firm up so they’ll hold their shape while baking, and it’ll relax the gluten so that the cookies remain tender.

3. Draw a simple template to make the piping easier. Because these biscuits are sandwiched together, you want matching pairs. On the back of the parchment paper, I draw a number of 7cm lines to give you a better guide, helping you to make perfectly paired biscuits.

To make the filling as flavourful as possible, I like to use jarred stem ginger, the type that comes in syrup. I add plenty of finely diced ginger but also some of the syrup, doubling the flavour. And just like last week's recipe, there is a lot of room to adapt this to any flavour profile you want. You could simply add mint extract to the filling and dip the biscuits in milk or white chocolate, add lime zest to the filling instead, or maybe even add a splash of Baileys for a more grown-up flavour profile (don’t add too much liquid; otherwise, the filling will soften the cookies too quickly).

The recipe is a doubling of what appears in my book, Small Batch Cookies. The book is a fabulous collection of cookie recipes that span a huge variety of styles and flavours, and all of the recipes make six or fewer cookies. As I know it will be a question I get more over the festive period, let me say here, the recipes can be scaled up without issue, perfect if you’re planning on making some holiday cookies. Also, I wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has already bought a copy of the book; hearing the wonderful feedback it has been receiving is the absolute feeling.

Double Chocolate Ginger Viennese Fingers

Makes 12

Biscuit Dough

190g unsalted butter, very soft but not melting

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

70g icing sugar

150g plain flour

30g cocoa powder

2 tbsp cornflour

Pinch of fine sea salt

Filling and Coating

50g unsalted butter, room temperature

100g icing sugar

Pinch of fine sea salt

20g finely diced stem ginger, plus 2 tbsp of the syrup from the jar

200g milk chocolate, melted

25g coconut oil

Line a couple baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, vanilla, and icing sugar until soft and creamy, 2-3 minutes. It is very important that the butter starts out at room temperature and the texture is very soft and creamy before you add the flour; otherwise, the dough will be hard to pipe. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, cornflour, and salt and mix with a spatula until an evenly combined dough is formed.

Scrape the dough into a piping bag fitted with a round star tip (I prefer to use a French star tip) and pipe 7cm long strips onto the prepared baking trays.

Chill the piped cookies for at least 20 minutes, longer if you have time.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan).

Bake for about 12 minutes or until the biscuits look dry and feel firm. Remove from the oven and set aside until fully cooled.

For the filling, add the butter, icing sugar, and salt to a bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the stem ginger and the syrup and beat briefly until evenly distributed. Pipe or spread a layer of buttercream onto the base of half the biscuits and sandwich together with a second cookie. To decorate, dip the cookies halfway into the melted chocolate, allowing any excess back into the bowl. Set the chocolate-coated cookies back onto the parchment tray and refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

If stored in a covered container, the cookies will keep for 2-3 days. They’ll be fine for longer, but the buttercream will start to soften the biscuit after that.

Chocolate Coating Tips

When it comes to coating the biscuits in chocolate, you have two options, just like last week. Temper the chocolate or cheat. For ease, I am going to show you the cheats method, but feel free to go down the tempering route should you wish. Add the milk chocolate and oil to a bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Stirring occasionally, heat the chocolate until it has fully melted. Remove and set aside for 5 minutes until the chocolate has cooled slightly but is still very fluid. Dip the biscuits, one at a time, in the chocolate. Give the biscuit a gentle shake to encourage an excess to drip back into the bowl and then carefully transfer it to the parchment paper. Once all the biscuits are coated, transfer the tray to the fridge until the chocolate is set. Once set, you can store the biscuits at room temperature, but make sure to keep them in a dry, cool spot.

Double Chocoolate Viennese Fingers

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