Vegan Biskvier (Sarah Bernhardts)

Continuing on the theme of Swedish pastry classics, biskvier are definitely on my top list of favourite bake goods ever. You’ll find these in most bakeries and cafés in Sweden, though they’ll rarely be vegan, which is why I whipped up some home made vegan biskvier.

Some of you may look at these and think I’m making up some funny name for these calling them vegan biskvier, clearly those are Sarah Bernhardts.

Biskvier and Sarah Bernhardts may look identical, but they are actually not the same thing.

You see, biskvier are almond cookies, topped with buttercream filling and coated with chocolate. While Sarah Bernhardts are the same, but filled with a chocolate truffle cream.

That makes the cookies in this post, which are filled with buttercream… you got it – biskvier. That said, I’m giving Sarah Bernhardts a little mention in the title of this post as well since I know most english speaking folks will only know them as that.

Related: Vegan Mazariner – A Swedish Classic

Regardless of what you call them, these cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious so I suggest you snap to it and make yourself some of these vegan biskvier asap and then call them whatever you want.

Vegan Biskvier or Sarah Bernhardts

Yield: about 20 cookies

Cookie base
500 grams (17.5 oz) almond paste, chilled
½ dl (4 Tablespoons) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 Tablespoons corn starch
3 Tablespoons almond milk

Buttercream filling
250 grams (9 oz) vegan butter, softened
3 dl (1 cup + 4 Tablespoons) powdered sugar
4 teaspoons bourbon vanilla powder
100 grams (3.5 oz) dark chocolate

Coating
200 grams (7 oz) vegan dark chocolate

Method

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set the oven to 150 C / 300 F.
2. Grate the chilled almond paste an place in a medium sized mixing bowl.
3. Add the powdered sugar, baking powder, corn starch and almond milk and mix to a dough.
4. Roll the dough into balls and flatten them into rounds on the baking tray, about 3-4 centimetres (1-1.5 inches) in diameter and about 5 mm thick.
5. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until lightly golden along the edges.
6. Allow to cool completely on a wire wrack while you mix the buttercream filling.
7. Whip the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla to a smooth batter with an electric beater.
8. Melt the chocolate and allow to cool slightly. Then slowly pour it into the buttercream batter while whipping.
9. Transfer the buttercream filling to a piping bag and pipe a small mound on the bottom side of each almond cookie base. (If you don’t have piping bags you can use a knife to carefully form a small mound on each cookie).
10. Place the cookies in the fridge or freezer to firm up for at least 30 minutes. You want the buttercream topped cookies to be quite cold or frozen when you dip them in the chocolate coating so that the chocolate doesn’t melt the buttercream filling and cause a gloppy mess.
11. Melt the chocolate for coating and allow to cool slightly. Remove the cookies from the freezer and carefully dip each top into the melted chocolate to cover the buttercream.
12. Place back on a tray in the fridge to allow the chocolate coating to firm up.
13. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for up to a month.

Enjoy!