Piped Butter Cookies with Raspberry Jam (Viennese Whirls)

My Piped Butter Biscuits are buttery, crumbly, and melt in your mouth. Also known as Viennese Whirls, yhey’re not overly sweet, so the fresh raspberry jam filling and thin, crisp chocolate coating add just the right pop of sweetness. They’re easy to make and a dream to pipe.

Hey team, Nick here! I bloody love a classic European cookie. There’s something about their simplicity that makes them invite. Traditionally, these are shaped as whirls (hence the name), but I think they work better as finger shapes. They’re easier to pipe, dip into the chocolate coating and eat!

Related – if you love a simple European biscuit, try my soft and chewy amaretti cookies. I have an indulgent chocolate amaretti too!

Six rounds of testing went into creating this recipe. The first problem I had was making them keep their shape. The first batch melted into a puddle. More flour fixed the problem but I nearly got RSI from how hard they became to pipe. Turns out, a little corn flour will help them keep their shape while a little bit of cream will make the dough soft enough to pipe. More on how to pipe them below!

One of my favorite things is the little bit of orange zest in the cookie dough. It helps brighten them up a little, but it’s optional. The homemade raspberry jam adds a soft tartness, while the chocolate gives a little boost of sweetness. It’s all just perfectly balanced and frankly a delicious cookie recipe you’ll want to keep coming back to.

These go so well with my home made raspberry jam

I’ve always wanted a raspberry jam recipe on the blog because it can be used in so many desserts. I use it in my lamington cake because its nice and thick and doesn’t ooze out of the cake. It’s also a small enough batch that you can use it for most desserts like these cookies!

• Start by simmering the raspberries, sugar and lime juice until slightly thickened. It’ll take about 10-15 minutes.
• Check how set it is by adding a dab on a cold saucer that’s been in the freezer and let it cool. If it doesn’t slide around it’s done!

BONUS: This recipe works with either frozen or fresh raspberries. Oh and if you want to skip making your own jam, you can absolutely use store bought jam.

It’s really really important that your butter is soft.

It is really important that your butter is soft. I mean really soft. If it is not, your dough will be too firm to pipe. Just make sure it is not melting.

How to soften your butter – I soften mine by cutting it into small cubes, putting it in a heatproof bowl, and microwaving it for 10 seconds at a time, mixing with a spatula until it is very soft. You want it soft enough to spread on very fresh bread without tearing it.

How to make the biscuit dough

• Whip the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and orange zest together until creamy. Don’t overwhip it though.
• Add the flour and corn starch and mix to form a dough.

• It should be a quiet soft. Almost at a spreadable consistency, but still something that can hold its shape.

Piping your biscuits

I like to use a medium sized open star tip to pipe my cookies. Fit it on the end of a piping bag and fill the bag halfway with soft cookie dough.

Template: I drew up a piping template to help me get the same sized cookies. That makes pairing them up much easier and makes everything nice and uniform.

• Line your two half sheet baking trays with baking paper and pipe your biscuits 7cm long.
• Use a small sharp knife to cut the end of the biscuit to neaten it off before you pull the piping bag away. It’ll be 16 cookies on each tray.

Chilling and baking – One of the best ways to make sure your biscuits keep their shape is to chill them in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Once you’ve chilled them, bake until golden on the bottom.

Making the thin chocolate coating

What I love about this chocolate coating is that it tastes great but its thin so it gives you a nice thin coating.

The best way to do melt the chocolate and oil together is in a double boiler. Bring a large  of water filled about 1/3 of the way with water to a gentle boil. Place a heatproof bowl on top making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Add the chocolate and oil and stir until completely melted. You’ll want to let your chocolate cool for about 20 minutes before dipping the cookies in.

Tip: I like transferring the melted chocolate into a smaller bowl so that I can have enough depth to dip my cookies in. Otherwise if you leave it in the larger bowl you’ll only have enough depth to coat about 1/4 of each cookie.

My tips for putting them together

• You want to start by pairing up the baked cookies. Some still might be wider or longer than other. Just do your best to pair them up.

• I like adding my jam to a piping bag to pipe a line on top of half the cookies but you can do this with a teaspoon too. Just don’t fill too wide or all the way to the ends to allow room for the jam to spread as you sandwich the cookie halves.

Tip: Let the cookies sit for about 30-60 minutes so the cookies can soak some of the jam in. It’ll help them stick together much better which will make coating them but easier.

• To coat the cookies in the chocolate just dip half of each sandwiched cookie in the chocolate.
• Scrape the bottom of the cookie on the side of the bowl and place it on your baking tray lined with baking paper. Let them set at room temperature and serve!

Tip: You can sprinkle things on top of the chocolate before it sets to dress them up a little. Things like chopped nuts, coconut or sprinkles.

Just a heads up about the coating – I know the chocolate coating in the photos looks glossy, but the chocolate coating doesn’t set glossy.

How to store your cookies

The chocolate coating on these cookies is slightly softened with that oil in it so it will melt in warm environments. Keep them in an airtight container and in the fridge. They’re just as delicious when served chilled, but they thaw pretty quickly too.

If you give these cookies a go, or have any questions, let me know! N x