Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits sandwiched together with a light, white chocolate ganache. These light, melt in your mouth biscuits are perfect for an Afternoon Tea or morning coffee treat.
The first time I made Chocolate Dipped Viennese Fingers was an experience, shall we say. It was relatively early on in my blog and in my wisdom I decided to set the dipped Viennese biscuits on a cooling rack!
Most of them stuck. Badly.
Resulting in a kitchen full of broken biscuits where I managed to salvage just enough for a decent photograph. So, learning my lesson I did not make the same mistake when making these delicious, finger biscuits.
These light, meltingly delicious Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits are so yummy and are a favourite of my husbands.
Starting my day right
Now we all know I am a self confessed Cookie Monster. So are my whole family. When I was younger my Grandad would bring my youngest Auntie, my sister and I a cup of tea, in bed, every morning. And, no one can make tea like my Grandad did. Anyway, we would always get three biscuits, which we would swap so that we had our favourites. I still cannot understand the appeal of custard creams, but each to their own.
Since I was little, staying in the comfort and security of my grandparents home having biscuits with my morning tea was my routine. It still is. I can miss breakfast and lunch, so long as I’ve had a cup of tea and a biscuit or cookie first thing in the morning. And, it is the one thing I would choose to never give up. It is part of my morning routine, so much so, that when I was in hospital last year see here, I would save my packet of 3 biscuits given out with the hot chocolate in the evening, so that I could have them with my morning tea.
Why Homemade Biscuits Are Best
While growing up, although my Grandma was an accomplished cook, I cannot recall her making biscuits. Yet for me, it was the very first skill I mastered in my kitchen. Although these days I tend towards lazy cookies rolled into balls, or scooped with an ice cream scoop. So, to actually pipe biscuits, make a ganache and sandwich them together is a first for me (not the piping), I’ve definitely never made sandwiched biscuits.
I made and baked one batch of my Chocolate Dipped Viennese Fingers and then tweaked the recipe to make a chocolate version. There’s a tiny bit more icing sugar in the chocolate finger biscuits as I wanted to offset any bitterness from the cocoa.
Tomorrow morning, I will have a luxury start to my day. A Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuit to accompany my morning cup of tea!
Recipe: Makes 18-24 Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits
200g/7oz Very Soft Unsalted Butter
60g/5.2oz Icing Sugar – sifted
Pinch 1/8tsp Salt – I use Maldon
1tsp Vanilla Extract – I use Nielsen-Massey
15g Corn Flour – approx 1tbsp
50g/2oz Cocoa Powder
100g/4oz Self Raising White Flour
50g/2oz Plain White Flour
100g/4oz White Chocolate – for dipping the ends of the biscuits
100g/4oz Dark Chocolate – for dipping the ends of the biscuits
For the white chocolate ganache:
100g/4oz White Chocolate
100mls Double Cream
Method: Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan, gas mark 4, 350F.
Making And Piping The Viennese Biscuit Dough
- First of all line 2 baking trays with non stick silicone mats or baking parchment.
- Whisk the butter until it is very soft and pale – approx. 5 minutes.
- Add the sifted icing sugar and vanilla extract and continue whisking for 2 minutes.
- Next sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk for a further 2 minutes until the mixture is a dark, chocolatey brown colour.
- Sift the corn flour, plain and self raising flour into the bowl.
- Using a metal spoon mix the ingredients together until the are just combined, with no visible white streaks present.
- Fit a large piping bag with a large, Wilton #1M star tip.
- Fill the piping bag with the soft, chocolate biscuit dough.
- Pipe 3″/7-8cm lengths of biscuit dough on to the lined baking tray.
Baking The Biscuit Halves
- Place both trays of piped biscuits in the centre and lower part of the oven.
- Bake the biscuits for 12 minutes. They will be firm to touch and may have spread a little.
- As soon as the biscuits are baked remove from the oven and allow to cool completly on the tray.
Making The White Chocolate Ganache Filling
- While the biscuit fingers are cooling make the chocolate ganache that will be piped on the underside of the fingers for sandwiching together.
- In a heatproof, microwaveable jug add the white chocolate and double cream.
- Zap for 1 minute on medium power.
- Remove from the microwave and stir. If there are still lumps of unmelted chocolate, pop it back in for a further 30 seconds on medium.
- Stir the ganache until the melted white chocolate is fully mixed into the cream.
- Whisk the ganache to cool it and continue whisking until the ganache thickens and becomes airy – today it was so warm that I wasn’t able to get the ganache to solidify.
- If the weather is cool the thickened ganache can be scooped into a piping bag with a medium round tip fitted – I poured the ganache into a disposable piping bag, which I then sealed with an elastic band and I placed it into the coldest part of the fridge until it had thickened.
Decorating And Filling The Chocolate And Vanilla Viennese Sandwich Biscuits
- While the ganache was cooling I melted both the dark and white chocolate in small heatproof, microwaveable bowls.
- Dip the chocolate fingers into the white chocolate and the vanilla fingers into the dark chocolate. Lay the dipped biscuit fingers on to anon stick silicone mat or baking parchment.
- Not all of the biscuit fingers will be dipped in chocolate, that’s fine it is nice to have a variety.
- When the ganache has firmed up to piping consistency, think buttercream, then you are ready to assemble your biscuits.
- Pipe a line of white chocolate ganache down the length, flat side upper, of one biscuit.
- Place a similar sized biscuit on top and set aside.
- Continue until all of the biscuits are sandwiched together.
- NOTE: Due to the fragile, melting nature of the Viennese biscuits, it is inevitable that some will break. I thoroughly enjoyed ‘taste testing’ the few breakages with our 2 daughters!
- I ended up with 18 perfectly sandwiched biscuits.
- Due to the heat I popped all the filled biscuits on to a baking tray and placed them back into the fridge to set, before taking the photographs.
To store place the Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits into a shallow tin and put in the fridge. With temperatures set to rise over the next few days, assuming they last that long 😉, they will keep for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Serve on a pretty plate, adorned with flowers from the garden. These Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits are perfect with afternoon tea, or morning coffee.
If you have enjoyed these Chocolate Vanilla Viennese Finger Biscuits here are some other recipes you may like:
Sitting together with friends over a mid morning coffee, or with family for afternoon tea, doesn’t have to be a formal occasion. Yet when a little extra effort is made, for example, adding the rose to the centre of the plate, it really lifts the occasion.
All food should be feasted on and enjoyed, not just eaten for the sake of it (unless circumstances, for example illness, dictate otherwise). Food shared, tastes better and eating with company can be more fun.
Make the most of what’s left of the summer to eat outside. Watching the butterflies, listening to the birds, bees and ruffling leaves of the trees, adds an extra element of fun to our feasting.
Sammie xx
