Viennese Chocolate Fingers

My quest to bring you the right recipes to Create your own lavish afternoon tea party brings me to another acclaimed biscuit the, Viennese chocolate finger, I am pretty  sure most of us have had these gems because they are produced all over the world in various guises. I tried to find some 18th or 19th century history on these but really couldn't .I did however find a more recent history for this biscuit, not my recipe unfortunately, but being of a military background I found this story in Wikipedia that I'd like to share with you.
In late August 1994, Sunshine Biscuits donated over 21,000 Vienna Fingers and Hydrox cookies to a contingent of American troops from Fort Eustis Army Base. The company's action was a follow up to a similar Sunshine shipment sent to troops during the 1990–1991 Gulf War and a soldier's scrawled response note on an Oreo box, "Please deploy cookies." In the company's words, "the donation of these cookie favorites will give the troops a taste of home and make their time away from their families a little more pleasant." The Vienna Fingers and Hydrox cookies were brought with the troops to the refugee-filled border area between Rwanda and Zaire.
It is always said that a army marches on it's stomach and I guess sunshine biscuits did there bit to help the troops,It also proves Oreo boxes are good for some thing .With that let's just get to the recipe and yes I would gladly donate my  recipe to any of troops protecting us in these difficult times.

Ingredients

125 g/ 4 1/2 oz/ 1/2 cup unsalted butter
75 g/ 2 1/4 oz/ 6 tbsp icing (confectioners') sugar
175 g/ 6 oz/ 1 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sieved (strained)
25 g/ 1 oz/ 3 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)
200 g/ 7 oz dark chocolate

Instructions

1.Lightly grease 2 baking trays (cookie sheets). Beat the butter a sugar in a mixing owl until light nd fluffy. Gradually beat in the flour and cornflour (cornstarch).

2.Melt 75 g/ 2 1/4 oz of the dark chocolate and beat into the biscuit dough.

3.Place in a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle (tip) and pipe fingers about 5 cm/ 2 inches long on the baking trays (cookie sheets), slightly spaced apart to allow for spreading.

4.Bake in a preheated oven, 190oC/ 375oF/ Gas Mark 5, for 12-15 minutes. Leave to cool slightly on the baking trays (cookie sheets), then transfer them with a palette knife (spatula) to a wire rack nd leave to cool completely.

5.Melt the remaining chocolate and dip one end of each biscuit (cookie) in the chocolate, allowing the excess to drip back into the bowl.

6.Place the biscuits (cookies) on a sheet of baking parchment and leave to set before serving.

Mac's Tip

If the biscuit (cookie) dough is too thick to pipe, beat in a little milk to thin it out a little.
Variation
Dip the base of each biscuit in melted chocolate and leave to set. Sandwich the biscuits (cookies) together in pairs with a little butter cream.

Chocolate facts

Chocolate is believed to be good for more than just eating in many cultures. Some cultures use chocolate as a form of currency, religious and medical purposes. One study was just done on the effects of dark chocolate on high blood pressure. If you eat dark chocolate it can help in lowering your high blood pressure. Cocoa butter is another way it is used in modern medicine. Did you know that pills are coated in cocoa butter to make them easier to swallow? Cocoa butter also helps soothe a sun burn. It is even being used in beauty products. Cocoa butter is a rich formula that is great at moistening and softening the skin. Lotions are now adding this to help keep skin soft and moist. Cocoa butter is even said to help with stretch marks on the skin. This is the ingredient in the lotions that is supposed to help reduce and prevent stretch marks.

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