Nothing beats the smell of Christmas – the hint of pine, the scented candles and the mulled wine bubbling away on the stove...

Add the aroma of freshly baked biscuits and youmight just have the recipe for the sweetest-smelling Yuletide ever.

Take it one step further and turn those biscuits into tree decorations (so much nicer than a few foil-wrapped chocs melting amid the lights), for a look that’s cute, classy and utterly delicious.

But is it actually possible to make decs that will last for the entire festive season? I’m no Mary Berry or Kirstie Allsopp, but with a little determination, festive domesticity can be yours...

STEP ONE: Making the biscuits...

First things first, you need to make your biscuits. These wonderful creations are based on the Biscuiteers recipe – and if you’ve ever tried a Biscuiteer biscuit, you’ll knowwhy.

They’re delicious, look beautiful and will last up to one month, even when left to hang on a twinkling Christmas tree.

STEP TWO: The ultimate icing...

Now this is where things get tricky, but bear with me – they will be worth it.

The icing on these biscuits is divinely decorative and, therefore, a wee bit complicated, but I can testify that patience and practice are all you need.

Start off by making a basic royal icing, then you’ll tweak it slightly in order to create the line icing (this is used for your outlines, creating pattern and detail, while stopping the other icing spilling over the edges) and flooding icing (the larger area of icing on top of the biscuit).

LINE ICING

Check the picture(s) to see how many colours of line icing you need and then divide up the royal icing. Spoon required amounts into clean little bowls.

If you’re using gel colours, use the tip of a cocktail stick to add a tiny amount of the gel to the icing. Stir the gel into the icing until it is totally mixed in and you see the resulting colour.

Slowly add more gel, stirring well between additions, until the colour has reached the shade that you need. It is worth taking the colouring process slowly, as a little gel colour goes a very long way.

Cover the surface of the icing with clingfilm and chill each bowl as youmake it, until you have all the colours that you need for the collection.

FLOODING ICING

Place your royal icing in a large bowl, gradually add enough water, a few drops at a time, stirring constantly until you have a smooth, just pourable mixture that has roughly the same consistency as custard.

Repeat the colouring process with the flooding icing. Look at your designs and count up the number of shades of flooding icing needed. Divide up the mixture, leaving a little spare white icing, just in case you need to make any extra later.

When you have finished, cover the surface of each icing with clingfilm as soon as you have mixed it, so it does not start to go hard at the edges, and chill until ready to use.

STEP THREE:

Creating your masterpieces Once your icing and biscuits are ready to go, it’s time to get creative.

You’ll want to pop your line icing into piping bags (twothirds full, end snipped off, so you’re creating a line that’s aroundamillimetre thick) and your flooding icing into squeezy bottles (you can use a spoon but it will take longer and be messier).

Study the biscuit and icing youwant to copy, then take the line icing and pipe on your outline. It’s a good idea to have a few goes on parchment paper first, until you’ve got the pressure right. Make sure your piping bag is twisted and held tight and keep the pressure on throughout. The higher you lift your hand, the more control you have over the line.

And stop squeezing before you reach the very end, touching down on the biscuit at each join. This is tricky, but you’ll find yourself getting better the more you do. Be sure to go around the hole with line icing, too.

Once you’ve completed your lines, your first biscuit should be dry enough for the flooding icing. This is the easy – and surprisingly calming – part.

Choose your colour then squeeze the bottle to release the icing into the area you need it, and swirl it around, using the nozzle to fill the space. If there are any tricky corners, use the tip of a cocktail stick to eke it out to the edge.

You can also try out some simple but stunning effects at this stage, such as blobbing another colour of flooding icing around a bauble biscuit, then taking a cocktail stick and drawing a line through the middle of them – it almost looks like anOrla Kiely design!

Once all the biscuits are flooded, they need to dry properly, which means popping them in a low oven for 30 to 45 minutes – 50C or gas mark 0.5 is fine for this.

Once they’re dry, take them out of the oven and make the finishing touches.

Use the line icing to go over any detailing, and there you have it – amazingly professional-looking biscuits, simply requiring a thin bit of ribbon to be slotted through the hole, tied together and hung on the Christmas tree, or given as a very lovely gift.

  • If you don’t have the time or energy, you can cheat and buy a Christmas Tree Decorations Biscuit Tin, which contains 16 ready-made Biscuiteer beauties, £39.50 (www.biscuiteers.com)
  • Biscuiteers BookOf Iced Biscuits by Harriet Hastings & Sarah Moore is published by Kyle Books, priced £12.99. Available now
  • Icing classes are also available at Biscuiteers boutiques. For more information, visit www.biscuiteers.com