Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies

Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies are a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth treat. They're light as a feather, utterly scrumptious, and last but not least, really pretty!

I've been a big fan of The Great British Baking Show (find it on Netflix) for many years. It was in a technical challenge during season 4 that I first learned about, and fell in love with the look of Viennese Whirls.

I wasn't sure why, but I knew those beautiful little swirled biscuits were calling my name. Now I know! I am going on record to declare these Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies my very favorite biscuit on earth!

**Please Note - The printable recipe card with detailed instructions, complete ingredient measurements, and nutritional information for making Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies is available at the end of this post. 

The ingredient list:

**Note - The following list of ingredients contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience.

• Butter softened (salted or unsalted, I use salted)
• Confectioners Sugar
• All-Purpose Flour
• Cornstarch
• Pure Vanilla Extract
• Salt

What kitchen tools and equipment are needed to make Viennese Whirls?

**Note - The following list of tools and equipment contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience.

• Hand Mixer
• Large Bowl
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons
• Pastry Bag
• Large Star Tip (for piping)
• Baking Sheet
• Parchment Paper
• Spatula
• Sifter or Confectioners Sugar Shaker (optional)

This recipe is written in cups and not grams. Why?

Even though I do have a kitchen scale at my disposal, I don't use it often.

Since recipes written in the US are measured by cups, I converted the recipe I found online for Viennese Whirls into cups and adjusted the measurements (as needed) to make the dough stiff enough to hold its shape, but not overly stiff which would make it too hard to pipe.

What is the purpose of cornstarch in a cookie recipe?

When cornstarch is combined with flour in a cookie recipe, it softens the gluten proteins of the flour and results in an exceptionally tender cookie.

This isn't Mary Berry's traditional Viennese Whirl biscuit recipe. Why?

It's close, but I tweaked it just a tiny bit and put my Kudos Kitchen spin to it! I only added a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Nothing too drastic!

Check out Mary Berry's Viennese Whirl Biscuit recipe.

The easy instructions for making Viennese Whirls:

• Cream the softened butter with the confectioner's sugar.
• Add the all-purpose flour, cornstarch, vanilla extract, and salt.
• Blend to combine.

• Spoon the batter into a piping bag that has been fitted with a large star tip. *Note - to make this task easier, place the piping bag into a tall glass. Fold the piping bag down and spoon the dough into the bag.
• Use a pencil to outline 2" circles onto a parchment paper sheet.
• Flip the parchment paper over so the cookie dough doesn't come into contact with the pencil lead, and place the parchment paper onto a baking sheet. *Note - to prevent the parchment from slipping or lifting as you pipe the whirls onto the paper, add a small touch of dough onto the corners of the cookie sheet and press the parchment paper onto the baking sheet.

• Pipe rosettes within the circle template drawn on the parchment paper. *Note - to pipe the rosettes, apply even pressure to the piping bag squeezing gently but firmly. Working from the outside to the inside in a circular fashion.
• Chill the piped rosettes in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.
• Bake the Viennese Whirls for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are the faintest golden brown.
• Remove to a baking rack to cool completely.
• Once fully cooled, sprinkle each cookie with a dusting of confectioners sugar.

Below is the printable recipe card for today’s Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies. 

If you’ve enjoyed this recipe and look forward to making it (or have already made it), I’d appreciate it if you’d take a moment to give it some feedback by way of stars near the comment section at the end of this post. Thank you so much!

I sincerely hope you've enjoyed today's recipe for Viennese Whirls Butter Cookies as much as I've enjoyed bringing it to you this year for #SummerDessertWeek 2019.