Method

​1 In a bowl, sift in the gluten-free flour and the spices. Stir in the sugar. Add the butter to the bowl and rub together with your fingertips until it resembles a breadcrumb consistency.

2 Break the egg into another bowl and beat. Then mix in the syrup with the egg until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix together until you have a ball of dough. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

3 Preheat the oven at 170°C/fan 150°C/gas mark 3 when you are ready to roll out the dough.

4 After the dough has been in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, roll onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of about 0.5cm (¼ inch) thick. Use an 8cm round cutter to cut the dough and place on a baking tray.

5 Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the tray and cool on a wire wrack. Once cold they can be decorated into lovely robins - this is the fun bit!

5 To decorate the biscuits: mix the icing sugar in a bowl with a few tsps of water then slowly adding the red food colouring until you get the colour you want.

5 Place a teaspoon of the red icing and spread evenly on the bottom half of the biscuit to make the red chest effect.

5 Use the writing icing to pipe eyes and stick on the jelly beaks. For the wings, use small blobs of red icing to stick 4 buttons on either side. Leave to set. Eat fresh on the day (as many as you can) but otheriwise you can store them in an air-tight tin for a few days.