Preheat oven to 180˚C.

Cream the butter and sugar together.

Beat in the egg followed by the golden syrup. Continue to beat until very light and fluffy.

Stir in the almonds and lemon zest and if using, the stem ginger.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and ground ginger. Mix until well blended.

With damp hands, roll 1.5 inch round balls of cookie dough and place on a lined baking tray, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Don't flatten them.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until they have spread a little and are a little crinkly on top. They will be pale golden brown in colour and just dry to the touch.

Cool on a rack and when cold, mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make it the texture of toothpaste (i.e. just flows when pushed) and the food colouring if using at this point. Drizzle a teaspoon of icing on each cookie and immediately sprinkle over the sprinkles. Leave on the rack to set before serving.