• Add the light brown sugar, butter and golden syrup to a large saucepan and place on the lowest heat. Stir until melted and combined and then remove from the heat - don't let it boil.
• In a large mixing bowl, add the gluten free flour, ground ginger, mixed spice, xanthan gum and bicarbonate of soda and stir to mix together.
• Pour in the melted butter/sugar/syrup mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it starts to clump together. Add the egg and continue to mix until it forms a sticky dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill for at least one hour.

Once the dough has chilled:

• Line two large baking sheets with baking paper and set to one side. Place a sheet of baking paper on the worktop and dust with flour. Pop the dough in the middle of the paper and then cover with another sheet of greaseproof paper. Roll the dough between the sheets to around 6mm thick.
• Peel back the top sheet of paper and using your cutter of choice, cut the shapes from the dough. Use a fish slice to transfer them carefully onto the lined baking sheets, leaving plenty of space between them.
• Re-roll the dough and continue to cut out shapes until all the dough is used up. When you have all your shapes cut out on their baking trays, preheat the oven to 180'C / 160'C Fan / Gas Mark 4.
• Place the baking trays with the cookie shapes on in the fridge for 15-20 minutes until the oven has preheated - this helps to stop the gingerbread spreading in the oven.
• Once hot, bake the gingerbread cookies for around 8 minutes (for small shapes around 2-3 inches or less) or 10-12 minutes for larger shapes (such as gingerbread men). You want them to be golden brown, so you can judge the correct cooking time by checking the colour of them as they near the end of the bake.
• Once baked and golden, remove the tray from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.

To decorate your gingerbread cookies:

• Mix 100g icing sugar with 2-3 tsp water until it forms a thick paste. Use a piping bag with a very small round nozzle to pipe faces and patterns onto your gingerbread men, adding extra sweets and sprinkles as you like!