Why do my cookies go flat?

[thomamon]

Guys,

I made chocolate chip cookies the other day with the recipe on the back of the bag. They came out extremely flat for some reason and have no clue why. Anyone know why?

Thanks,

TM

 

[PA Baker]

Welcome to the board, Thom! Not knowing what recipe you used, it's hard to answer the question. Can you post the recipe--then we can help try and figure out what might have happened.

 

[thomamon]

Here is the recipe, it was the one on the back Hershey Bag.

2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 Cup (2 sticks) Butter or Margarine (I used Margarine)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 3/4 cups chocolate chips

 

[mudbug]

Thom, if you followed the recipe exactly as on the back of the bag, the only things I can think of are these:

You spread them out too much when you first dropped the raw dough on your sheets. This recipe has a lot of shortening in it (two sticks of butter), so they are going to spread quite a bit unless you "heap" the dough up some. (A friend of mine measures her "cookies" out in 1/4 cup increments of dough.)

Your oven got too hot, and kablooey - flat cookies.

Hope this helps.

 

[Sue Lau]

Your cookie sheet may have been too hot.
Try using an insulated pan, or dough that is a bit more chilled.

 

[thomamon]

Thom, if you followed the recipe exactly as on the back of the bag, the only things I can think of are these:

You spread them out too much when you first dropped the raw dough on your sheets. This recipe has a lot of shortening in it (two sticks of butter), so they are going to spread quite a bit unless you "heap" the dough up some. (A friend of mine measures her "cookies" out in 1/4 cup increments of dough.)

Your oven got too hot, and kablooey - flat cookies.

Hope this helps.

I am not sure what your saying exactly. Should I use less butter? How do I heap up the dough? I also used the tea spoon as it said to put it on the sheets and the scoops were not too big.

I may try the oven again, but I don't think that is the problem, although I am not in there. lol

 

[mudbug]

Something else I just thought of - if you used the dark, non-stick type of cookie sheets, they probably got too hot and again - kablooey.

I just used a new Chicago Metallic jelly roll pan (dark non-stick) yesterday to make some bar cookies, and the packaging said to reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees.

 

[thomamon]

I am actually using stones from pampered chef... I actually have no problem with the store bought dough that you buy if I do that on them. But when I tried home made this happened.

 

[mudbug]

Did you use the soft tub margarine? That stuff has a lot of water in it as compared to the stick kind. I'm wondering if that could have been the problem.

I have a Pampered Chef baking stone too, but don't use it much. Those things absorb a lot of heat too.

Another thing you could try on a new batch is to chill the dough for about 30 minutes in the fridge before baking.

p.s. I always use more than a teaspoonful to measure out my cookie dough.

 

[PA Baker]

Thom, it may have been because you used margarine instead of butter. My mom always uses margarine in her chocolate chip cookies and they're very flat. Try using unsalted butter next time. Also, refrigerate the dough before you scoop it onto the cookie sheets (baking stones). Butter melts relatively quickly so if it's soft when the cookies go into the oven, it melts faster than rest of the ingredients cook, leading to flat cookies. If you chill the dough, the cookies start to bake throughout before the butter melts down. What the others said about making sure your pans cool down in-between batches ties into that, too. Also, just to be on the safe side, check the expiration dates on your eggs, baking soda, and flour. If they're old, you won't get the proper "rise," although I bet you see a difference just switching to butter and chilling the dough. Good luck!

 

[thomamon]

I actually used the sticks... I bought sticks of butter to try this time...

I will try your suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks a bunch!

TM

 

[thomamon]

Thom, it may have been because you used margarine instead of butter. My mom always uses margarine in her chocolate chip cookies and they're very flat. Try using unsalted butter next time. Also, refrigerate the dough before you scoop it onto the cookie sheets (baking stones). Butter melts relatively quickly so if it's soft when the cookies go into the oven, it melts faster than rest of the ingredients cook, leading to flat cookies. If you chill the dough, the cookies start to bake throughout before the butter melts down. What the others said about making sure your pans cool down in-between batches ties into that, too. Also, just to be on the safe side, check the expiration dates on your eggs, baking soda, and flour. If they're old, you won't get the proper "rise," although I bet you see a difference just switching to butter and chilling the dough. Good luck!

Why the unsalted butter? I have salted butter sticks ready to use, lol.

 

[LEFSElover]

in my experience, over all my many years of baking, and I'm not a chemist so I goof a lot, cookies go flat due to too much fat in the recipe or too much added by mistake. also, they go flat too quickly if you don't refrigerate them to make them more solid, before baking.

 

[PA Baker]

Why the unsalted butter? I have salted butter sticks ready to use, lol.

Since the recipe already calls for salt, you should use unsalted butter. You don't want too much in there. Overall, it's recommended to use unsalted, unless called for otherwise because it tends to be fresher (salt acts as a preservative, so there's longer shelf-life for salted butter). Since you have the salted butter and want to bake now, just eliminate 1/2 tsp of salt from the recipe.

 

[Bangbang]

I love those cookies.

 

[PA Baker]

I love those cookies.

Flat cookies? Then you should come to my mom's for Christmas. There will be a lot of flat cookies there!

 

[abjcooking]

There are a few things you can do to keep you cookies from going flat. Do chill the cookie pan and dough as others here have stated and also substitute some butter flavor crisco for some of the butter. The crisco will not melt and flaten the cookie like butter or margarine. My mom has perfected her chocolate chip cookies and here is her secret recipe. These will never go flat on you.

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 t. baking soda
2 t. salt
2 sticks butter (1cup)-I use regular Land O' Lakes
1 cup butter flavor crisco
3/4 cup plus 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 t. vanilla extract
4 large eggs
4 cups chocolate chips
2 cups nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl. In another bowl beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Chill dough and cookie sheet. Drop by ice cream scoop onto cookie sheet. Leave as a ball, do not flaten. Bake for 13 minutes.

 

[DampCharcoal]

Not to sound like a buffoon but I thought cookies were supposed to be flat! Then again, I don't bake very much, hence the reason I always defer to the experts here! I learn something new here everday!

 

[PA Baker]

Not to sound like a buffoon but I thought cookies were supposed to be flat! Then again, I don't bake very much, hence the reason I always defer to the experts here! I learn something new here everday!

Maybe "thin" is a better word than "flat."

 

[Chopstix]

Thomamon, from my experience with choco chip cookies, the baking sheets must be cool to start with. Chilling the dough is a must (roll dough into thin logs, wrap in cling wrap, then chill. I also freeze them. Just slice the log into even cookie portions before baking).

Mixing roughly chopped walnuts into the dough makes for fatter, lumpier cookies. Also, I find that lining the baking sheets with parchment paper helps retard the spread of the dough.

Good luck!