Viennese Fingers

A light blue plate with a cup of tea a 5 Viennese finger biscuits dipped in chocolate.

5 from 1 vote

Chocolate-Dipped Viennese Fingers made with only a few ingredients, a delicious sweet treat recipe that is very popular in the UK. The biscuits are so soft, almost melting in the mouth, with a delicate crumbly texture and a hint of vanilla. They make the perfect addition to any afternoon tea or garden party menu, and they go down well with the whole family.

Prep Time10

Cook Time25

Cooling Time1

Total Time1 35

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: biscuits

Calories: 196kcal

Author: Daniela Apostol

Ingredients

225 g plain flour
250 g butter, soft
50 g icing sugar
25 g cornflour (corn starch)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200 g milk chocolate

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius (375 Fahrenheit, 170 fan oven).
In a large mixing bowl, add the soft butter with the icing sugar, and use a hand mixer to beat them very well to a soft consistency.
Sift in the flour and cornflour, add the vanilla extract, and continue to beat well for at least 2 minutes until you have a pale-yellow colour and a smooth texture.
Add the soft dough to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
Line 3 baking trays with parchment paper, and pipe out fingers of 5-6 cm in length, leaving at least 2-3 cm in between each finger.
Bake each tray for 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are a very light brown around the edges.
Leave them to cool down completely.
To melt the chocolate, break it into chunks, and add them to a bowl set over a pan of simmering water.
When the fingers have cooled down, dip each end into the chocolate, and transfer them back onto the non-stick paper for the chocolate to harden.

Video

Notes

Unlike other shortbread recipes or recipes that use shortcrust pastry, there is no need to chill this dough before baking, in can go straight in the oven as soon as they fingers have been piped.
It is crucial to beat the dough mixture really well with the hand mixer, otherwise it will be impossible to pipe it out, even through a large nozzle. While the mixture shouldn't be close to melting, it does need to be smooth enough to create perfect Viennese fingers.
Do keep an eye on the biscuits after 10 minutes, different ovens work in different ways, and something even a minute can make the different between a well-baked biscuit and a burnt one.

The shortbreads will harden further as they cool down - do make sure you are careful when you dip them into the melted chocolate, as they are pretty crumbly and break easily.

Nutrition