Saturday, July 9, 2016

Miss Biscuit Beginner's Comprehensive Cookie Decorating Class



On a rather cold, wet Saturday a couple of weeks ago, I made my way to Seddon to attend a Beginner's Comprehensive Cookie Decorating Class at Miss Biscuit.  Miss Biscuit's new premises have only been open for a month, so they are bright and fresh and new:


Miss Biscuit, Julia Day, sells decorated cookies, decorating supplies and  homewares at the front of her premises.  Here are some examples of the gorgeous decorated cookies that you can buy at Miss Biscuit for ~$5 each:


In the beginner's class, there are places for 12 students.  The class runs from 10am to 3pm, and includes morning tea (tea/coffee/juice/water and cookies) and lunch (wraps, fruit, chocolates).  You learn to decorate 9 different pre-made cookies.  The price of the class (currently AUD$225) includes all materials, a leaflet with three cookie recipes (including a fabulous "no chill" vanilla cookie dough), a royal icing recipe and a piping tip guide covering three different brands of tips.

Here is the class attentively listening to Julia's tips on rolling out the cookie dough evenly: 


Here is Julia demonstrating how to put a wing on her bird cookie design - see how much fun she's having:


On the day, we learned how to decorate 9 different cookie shapes with Julia's designs.  Here is my completed set of cookies:


I think that all of the cookies are cute, but my favourites are the bird:


and the icecream: 


I bought cutters for both of these from the Miss Biscuit shop, which also sells everything used in class.  I am lucky in that I already have a fair collection of equipment from my own adventures in cookie decorating.  I have made flooded cookies before - see these Lovebird Cookies, these crazy hearts, and these butterflies.  However, I learned some new tips and tricks from Julia that I know I will find invaluable.  I especially like how she creates definition in her cookies by sectioning and layering.

I highly recommend Julia's class.  It was well organised, there was no mad rushing to complete the tasks, and everyone had enough equipment at their own bench - there was no Lord of the Flies type behaviour that I have experienced in some classes in vying for scarce equipment.  Julia is also very approachable and friendly, and was not hung up about how you held your piping bag and whether or not you did a perfect job.  In an adult education class, this is just as it should be.  If I ever practise enough to become more skilled, I would definitely go back to Miss Biscuit for the advanced class.

65a Charles St
Seddon VIC  3011

5 comments:

Johanna GGG said...

sounds like a great class and one where you did learn well as I remember your recent July 4 cookies were impressive

Kari said...

This sounds like a worthwhile class and your decorating efforts are impressive. I often make decorated iced cookies at Christmas and my decorating skills are not very good, so I could do with something like this!!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Sounds like a nice class although you can learn a lot from blogs and youtube if you can't get there :)

2paw said...

Sounds like a very good class with an excellent teacher. the no chill biscuit dough sounds intriguing. I love your little bird biscuit too, well done, you must be chuffed!!!

Kayte said...

Oh, Gaye those cookies you decorated are absolute perfection! I don't know how you could pick a favorite, they are all so lovely. Each one is my favorite! I can do that, right, I can choose them all as favorites! You are really talented.