Advent Biscuits – the results of an icing masterclass at Biscuiteers

What a difference a week makes! I am once again mobile (for the most part) and so I took the chance to spoil myself for my birthday and booked onto an masterclass at the phenomenal Biscuiteers Icing Cafe.

I have long been a fan of Biscuiteers, and have marvelled at their iced cookie creations, clicking fervently around their website, or poring over their breathtaking book. It has been an enduring wish of mine to take one of their icing classes, and when I discovered they were running an advent icing course on my birthday my mind was set to take action.

My leg injury last week had seemed to stop me in my tracks (quite literally), but an excellent physio session and my unprecedented commitment to completing the prescribed exercises, worked wonders – I was determined to ice my way to biscuit heaven.

With enough pace to not incur the icy stares, frowns and possible barging of commuters, I hotfooted it off to London with my knapsack on my back – okay, so I took a taxi with my hideously over-packed case and caught the train…

As I arrived, the beautiful white shopfront shone like a beacon among the fashionable grey and black of Notting Hill.  Stepping inside, I was whisked back to being a child in a sweet shop – spectacular edible works of art filled the shelves and tables. I could barely take it all in, and the smell was divine. I was fidgety with excitement, and mild apprehension, as I waited upstairs in the cafe.  We were invited to go downstairs and within minutes the wonderful instructors has set me and five others, all eager to be ‘ladies who ice’, at ease.

The class was a four hour icing lesson to learn how to ice a full set of advent cookies.  Icing 24 biscuits in just fours hours is quite a tall order for beginners, and we had to work at a cracking pace. It was totally absorbing, but immense fun.  After four hours of grappling with an icing bag and learning (very quickly) how to correct errors, did I reach icing heaven? Well, it may go without saying, but icing biscuits is not as easy at it looks. However, with the encouragement and support of the Biscuiteers experts and my fellow classmates I came home delighted with a tin of iced biscuits. So I didn’t quite make it to icing heaven, but I’d say I’m probably around the top of Snowdon, which I’m pretty pleased with!

Run out of time to make your own biscuits?  Why not treat your friends and family, or yourself, to the Biscuiteers Christmas Collection

Tagged: Advent, Advent Biscuits, Baking and Confections, Biscuit, Biscuiteer, Biscuiteers, Biscuiteers icing cafe, Cookie, iced biscuits, Icing (food), London, Mook and Lulu, Notting Hill