Full question
Was looking forward to eating the Seed-Studded Anzac Biscuits but mine all spread into one very large biscuit. What went wrong?
Our answer
Nigella's Seed-Studded Anzac Biscuits (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) are a variation on the classic oat biscuits and have added pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds. The mixture is quite soft and the biscuits will spread a bit on baking, hence the recipe warns that you should leave a gap of 2-3cm between each pile of biscuit mixture as you put it on to the baking sheet. For the large sheet of biscuit that you now have you could use a sharp knife to cut it into squares while it is still warm and on the baking sheet.
If the mixture has spread excessively we wonder if jumbo (or whole) oats were used instead of rolled (or quick cooking) oats. The jumbo oats don't bind as well in the mixture and are not ideal for cookies. Alternatively, you can chill the unbaked biscuits on the baking sheet before baking them and this will reduce the spread. However, you may need to allow an extra minute or two of baking time if they are chilled. Just keep an eye on them in the oven.
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