Gluten Free Biscuits & Cakes

Gluten free biscuits and cakes from Nairns, Mrs Crimbles, Schar, Doves Farm and The Beginnings.

The everyday replacements are here — digestives, rich tea, custard creams, chocolate fingers and jaffa cakes — alongside the bakery end: macaroons, bakewell slices, coconut rings and madeleines.

Oat biscuits are made with gluten free oats. Oats contain no gluten themselves, but ordinary ones are milled alongside wheat, so only separately milled oats can carry the label.

Gluten free baking behaves differently: without gluten there's no elastic structure, so recipes lean on rice flour, maize, buckwheat, xanthan gum and eggs to hold together. That's why gluten free biscuits are often crumblier.

Gluten free status is as declared by each brand.