Why are my biscuits gooey and always spreading out?

Whenever I make cookies the mixture always spreads on the tray when cooking and the biscuits run into each other. It like I should have made a slice rather than biscuits. What have I done wrong? The cookies are jam drops- fairly straightforward. Contains things like flour, caster sugar, er, baking powder and a few other things. I have followed this recipe from a book.