Chocolate Dipped Viennese Fingers are a classic retro bake. They are short and crumbly piped biscuits that melt in your mouth. This Viennese Fingers recipe is made extra special by dipping the ends of the cookies in chocolate.
Retro Cakes and Cookies – Wendy Sweetser
Take a trip down memory lane and discover recipes for delicious,
retro-style cakes and cookies in this book by food writer Wendy Sweetser, author of 20 cookery books and a member of the UK Guild of Food Writers and the Slow Food Association.
retro-style cakes and cookies in this book by food writer Wendy Sweetser, author of 20 cookery books and a member of the UK Guild of Food Writers and the Slow Food Association.
There are 26 recipes in this little book, a similar number to ‘LeCookie’ the book I reviewed earlier this month. The books are from the same publisher and have a very similar format.
The Chapters
The book is divided into three chapters:
Small Cakes, Bars and Buns
including Maids of Honor; Date, Apricot, and Pecan Sheet Cake; Lemon Bars; Chocolate Fridge Cake; Rock Cakes; Swiss Buns; Coconut Pyramids and Butterfly Cakes
Cookies and other treats
including Snickerdoodles; Double Chocolate Pinwheels; Melting Moments; Jam Sandwich Cookies; Shortbread Petticoat Tails; Ginger Nuts; Chocolate Dipped Viennese Fingers and Macaroons.
Large Cakes including Coffee Walnut Layer Cake; Devil’s Food Cake; Dundee Cake; Pineapple Upside-Down Cake; Christmas Yule Log; Iced Orange Seed Cake; Cherry Almond Sponge; Pound Cake; Spiced Apple Cake and Cornish Saffron Cake.
Who is it for?
I was a little disappointed with the selection of recipes in this book. Perhaps it is because the selection of ‘Retro’ cakes seem to have a bit of a US bias and also because I already have the majority of these recipes in other books.
However, if you don’t have an extensive collection of baking books and
you want to try some classic UK and US bakes then there are some tasty recipes in this little book.
However, if you don’t have an extensive collection of baking books and
you want to try some classic UK and US bakes then there are some tasty recipes in this little book.
Pros
A nice photograph of each cake beside the recipe, metric and US measurements.
Recipes are clearly laid out and simple to follow.
There are some slightly different recipes that really appeal to me e.g.
Date, Apricot and Pecan Sheet Cake, Ginger Nuts and Iced Orange Seed Cake.
Date, Apricot and Pecan Sheet Cake, Ginger Nuts and Iced Orange Seed Cake.
There are ‘Cook’s Tips’ for some of the recipes some have variations
and others have interesting information about the history of the different bakes.
and others have interesting information about the history of the different bakes.
Cons – Limited number of recipes, many of them in any general baking book.
Chocolate-Dipped Viennese
Fingers
Fingers
I’ve always liked the idea of making Viennese Whirls or Fingers, but have never done so. This was the perfect opportunity to give it a
try.
try.
Cooks Tips
The mixture needs to be soft enough to pipe, but it must also be firm enough to hold its shape, so you may need to adjust the quantity of milk to ensure the right consistency. The baked cookies are crumbly and delicate,
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk.
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk.
Farmersgirl Tips
You do need the extra milk to get the consistency soft enough. I used a large ‘potato’ or ‘cream’ piping nozzle as I couldn’t get the dough through anything else and ended up having to move the dough to a new piping bag.
The Viennese fingers are very delicate, I broke one cookie when I took it off the baking sheet, the chocolate was left on the paper and the biscuit came away in my hand! However, these were a big hit with young (my two year old grandson) and old (my 88 year old mother-in-law!) and everyone else in between. The taste and texture was exactly what I would expect from a Viennese Finger even though making them felt a bit like being on the Great British Bake Off!
Retro Cakes and Cookies by Wendy Sweetser is published by Cico Books at £9.99 and is available from www.cicobooks.com
Chocolate-Dipped Viennese Fingers
I’ve always liked the idea of making Viennese Whirls or Fingers, but have never done so. This was the perfect opportunity to give it a try.
Ingredients
For the cookie dough:
- 125 g unsalted butter softened
- 25 g icing sugar sifted
- ½ tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. baking powder
- 115 g plain flour
- 40 g cornflour
- 2 tbsp milk
For the chocolate icing:
- 100 g dark or milk chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C.
- 125 g unsalted butterMake the cookie dough: in a mixing bowl, beat the butter until soft and creamy.
- 25 g icing sugar, ½ tsp. vanilla extractSift in the icing sugar, add the vanilla and beat again until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- ¼ tsp. baking powder, 115 g plain flour, 40 g cornflour, 2 tbsp milkSift in the baking powder, plain flour and cornflour, and add the milk.
- Stir rather than beat everything together to make smooth soft dough.
- Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
- Pipe the mixture onto the baking sheets in lines about 10cm long, spaced well apart, to make about 20 cookies.
- Bake in the oven for 7-8 minutes or until the cookies are pale golden.
- Leave to cool on the bakingsheets for 5 minutes, before very carefully transferring to a wire rack with a palette knife to cool completely.
- 100 g dark or milk chocolateTo make the chocolate icing, break or chop the chocolate into small pieces, and place in a heatproof bowl.
- Stand the bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water, and leave until the chocolate has melted, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- Re-line the baking sheets with clean baking parchment or foil.
- Dip both ends of the cookies into the melted chocolate, let the excess chocolate drip back into the bowl, and place the cookies back on the baking sheets until the chocolate has set.
- When set, store the cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
The mixture needs to be soft enough to pipe, but it must also be firm enough to hold its shape, so you may need to adjust the quantity of milk to ensure the right consistency. The baked cookies are crumbly and delicate,
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk. The mixture needs to be soft enough to pipe, but it must also be firm enough to hold its shape, so you may need to adjust the quantity of milk to ensure the right consistency. The baked cookies are crumbly and delicate,
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk.
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk. The mixture needs to be soft enough to pipe, but it must also be firm enough to hold its shape, so you may need to adjust the quantity of milk to ensure the right consistency. The baked cookies are crumbly and delicate,
so handle them with care as you could break them when lifting them off the
baking sheets and dipping them in chocolate, if you are too heavy handed. On the other hand, eating the broken ones is the cook’s perk.
Nutrition
Calories: 210kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 2gFat: 14gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 27mgSodium: 5mgPotassium: 61mgFiber: 1gSugar: 8gVitamin A: 317IUCalcium: 16mgIron: 1mg
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Share by EmailI received a copy of Retro Cakes and Cookies to review, I was not paid for this review and all opinions are my own.
belleau kitchen says
oh my lord I do love a viennese finger… they remind me of growing up in the 70's… so posh we thought back then… you've inspired me to give them a go and thank you for the tip… great review x
Cakeyboi says
Viennese fingers take me right back! They look sooo good I can almost taste them 🙂
Janice Pattie says
Glad to provide a culinary time machine for you boys!
The View From The Table says
Oh my! Just the sight of these has whisked me back. I agree with the other comments too – they were only brought out 'for best'! I can almost taste them too 🙂
Elaine Livingstone says
not for me then, I am far to heavy handed and would probably end up with crumbs covered in chocolate
Choclette says
Those Viennese fingers look fabulous Janice. It's true, they were the height of sophistication I seem to remember and quite right too. I'm almost wanting to try them for myself, but I HATE piping and I'm not very good at it.
Janice Pattie says
Thanks for the comments. They were quite easy to pipe once I had the right size of nozzle and I thought I did rather well only breaking one!
Anne @ Webicurean says
Those Viennese fingers look really yummy, with or without the chocolate! I love retro recipes–I'm working on building my vintage cookbook collection.
Karen S Booth says
I LOVE Viennese Fingers and although the book looks lovely, I will stick to my beloved Be-Ro book for their recipe, but, I have to say that yours do look GORGEOUS! Karen