5 simple ingredients, 15 minutes to put everything together and you have the most amazing Viennese Cookies or Pierre Herme Chocolate Sable in the world. Classic Austrian butter cookies that are perfect for the holidays or an afternoon pick-me-up.
Everyone loves soft, almost melt-in-your- mouth butter cookies, but these are special.
Buttery with a tad of cocoa powder, Vienna cookies are incredibly easy to make even if you don't consider yourself a good baker.
Although the invention of these butter cookies belongs to French pastry chef, they are nevertheless considered a part of Austrian cuisine.
These cookies have different names - Sable cookies, Viennese Whirls or Pierre Herme Cookies.
These 5-ingredient butter cookies are simple yet so delicious. Perfect for a snack, dessert or Christmas holidays.
How To Make Vienna Cookies
1. In a large bowl whisk together softened butter and powdered sugar until white. Add in the egg white and whisk until fully incorporated.
If you forgot to take your butter out of the fridge ahead of time, here's a trick on how to soften the butter quickly.
"Put cold butter on a plate and cover completely with a bowl. Pop the plate into a microwave and heat for 10-15 seconds until butter feels soft to the touch but not melted."
2. In a second large bowl sift together flour, salt and cocoa powder.
3. Fold dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture until you have a smooth dough. Pop the bowl into a fridge for 5 minutes.
How To Pipe Viennese Whirls
4. Using a pastry bag fitted with 1 mm Wilton 1M Icing Tip pipe W-shaped cookies onto a baking sheet leaving about 1 inch of space in between them.
5. Bake in a preheated to 350 F oven for 10-12 minutes. Carefully transfer the cookies on a wire rack. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Make sure that the baking sheet has cooled completely or use a different baking sheet.
When cookies have cooled, sprinkle them with powdered sugar and serve.
How To Store Viennese Chocolate Biscuits
If you decide to freeze cookies for later, hold off sprinkling them with the powdered sugar.
Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper and pop them into a freezer for a few hours. After cookies have firmed, transfer them into a freezer bag.
If you followed the above procedure, Vienna Cookies will keep for 2-3 months in a freezer.
Make these fun cookie for Thanksgiving or Christmas and your guests will be delighted. Great for cookie exchange too.
More European Desserts To Try
- Hausfreunde (German Marzipan Cookies) - I could eat a dozen of these, so good!
- Joulutorttu (Finnish Christmas Cookies) - beautiful and perfect for Christmas cookie exchange or gift.
- Trdelnik - Czech spit cake you can make at home and without any special equipment.
- Ukrainian Shell Meringue Cookies - the dough is buttery and tender, and the meringue inside bakes up light and crisp.
Recipe
Easy Viennese Cookies
Video
Ingredients
Click on the highlighted text to purchase the necessary ingredients.
- 1 stick + ¾ tbsp butter softened
- 6 tbsp powder sugar
- 1 egg white lightly beaten with a fork
- 2 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 c - 2 tbsp flour
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- In a large bowl whisk together softened butter and powdered sugar until white. (See my tips about softening the butter in the post instructions).
- Add in the egg white and whisk until fully incorporated.
- In a second large bowl sift together flour, salt and cocoa powder.
- Fold dry ingredients into the butter and sugar mixture until you have a smooth batter. Pop the bowl into a fridge for 5 minutes.
- Using a pastry bag fitted with 1 mm Wilton 1M Icing Tip pipe W-shaped cookies onto a baking sheet leaving about 1 inch of space in between them.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. Carefully transfer the cookies to cool on a wire rack.
- Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Make sure that the baking sheet has cooled completely or use the other one.
- Sprinkle cookies with the powdered sugar and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Iryna Bychkiv is the founder and writer of the culinary website Lavender & Macarons, where she shares clean, European-inspired recipes that are delicious, easy to prepare, and made with wholesome ingredients. Iryna loves creating meals that are simple yet healthy and unique, including vegan and vegetarian recipes.
Iryna is also a freelance writer for MSN and Associated Press Wire.
C.D. Ewald says
Can these be baked as a "drop" cookie rather than piped? If so, any idea how long to bake?
Iryna Bychkiv says
Yes, I think drop cookies will be fine. It depends on their size. If you make them about 1 inch tall, I would probably bake them for about 15-18 minutes.
Julie Guillemain says
Recipe looks delicious. I’m going to give it a go children
Iryna Bychkiv says
Thanks for your comment, Julie! I hope you will like these cookies!
Bri says
Hello, can you make these without the cocoa? If so, do you just omit the cocoa or do you replace with flour ? Thanks
Iryna Bychkiv says
Hi Bri! These could potentially be made without cocoa. However, I haven't tried it, so I'm not sure what amount of flour can be used instead.
Bri says
Thank you Iryna. I’ll try and will let you know how it turns out.
Bri
Pete says
Wonderful.
Mashka says
Yummy! I really like chocolate cakes!
Iryna says
Thank you!