trying to make viennese fingers

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

Ok here was the recipe
6oz marg, 2ozs caster sugar 6oz self raising flour.
i used soft butter instead of margarine.

method, cream butter and sugar really well, i tried but it wouldn't go creamed colour, so i mixed in then flour. it was dry and rock solid. no way i could pipe it.

so i added 2 small eggs and a tablespoon of milk, piped it and it is now cooking.
any idea what i have made?
are they just odd sponge fingers, as there is no sign of the piping shape left as they have risen nicely.

With Viennese fingers you need to cream the butter and sugar for a loooong time to get it soft enough to mix in the flour and pipe it. I tend to put mine in the mixer for ages until it goes almost white.

It sounds like you just made sponge fingers, fill with a bit of buttercream and they'll be delicious.

well here they are outside the oven

cream longer than for a victoria sponge? the butter was just looking greasy

Yes until it is pale and fluffy. When you added eggs and milk you turned it into cake batter not biscuit mix. You have cake fingers :)

The other thing i did wrong my bowl was too big, so the mixture was just spread around the edges. But they were lovely anyway :)

I used this recipe-worked really well:
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/viennese_whirls_78348

When I trained as a pastry chef, even the tutor couldn't make a mix that was pipe-able.

When I make them at home I start trying to pipe, and always end up spooning them into rounds. They still taste great, they just don't have the lovely piped look.

I will try pumpkins suggestion when I get a new mixer.

is it one of those recipes where you really need to make it in bulk to get enough mix in the mixer for the beating to happen? Like, four times the original quantities? If I try to mix small amounts of butter/sugar, the beater just spreads it around the bowl and nothing happens.