Cookie issues - with sad little pictures.

[Eapa]

As opposed to the amount of butter, as Avian Flight mentions, it might actually be the temperature of the butter (or the shortening, or whatever) when the cookies go into the oven that makes the difference.  I remember seeing on one of those cooking shows on the Food Network (I think it was Good Eats?) a discussion of the perfect cookie, and one of the tips was to make sure your butter wasn't too soft.  I think I somewhat proved this fact to myself once when I over-microwaved a stick of butter to soften it, ended up with completely melted butter, and my cookies came out of the oven much thinner than usual.

Since you kind of need to soften the butter so you can mix it in, you could try chilling the dough for maybe ten minutes before popping it into the oven.  This will give the cookie dough enough time to solidify in the baking process before the heat of the oven causes the butter to become runny.  Don't over-chill, though, or you'll end up with the opposite problem:  tall cookie mounds that don't bake all the way through in the center.

[Retromiad]

Just fyi, you can NOT translate baking soda from the US directly to Europe.  I learned this from experience.  In Europe and the UK the baking soda is weaker so you have to use about 1 and 1/2 times as much.  So instead of 1 tsp, it would be 1 1/2 tsp.

that is all. 

[timarie]

As opposed to the amount of butter, as Avian Flight mentions, it might actually be the temperature of the butter (or the shortening, or whatever) when the cookies go into the oven that makes the difference.  I remember seeing on one of those cooking shows on the Food Network (I think it was Good Eats?) a discussion of the perfect cookie, and one of the tips was to make sure your butter wasn't too soft.  I think I somewhat proved this fact to myself once when I over-microwaved a stick of butter to soften it, ended up with completely melted butter, and my cookies came out of the oven much thinner than usual.

Since you kind of need to soften the butter so you can mix it in, you could try chilling the dough for maybe ten minutes before popping it into the oven.  This will give the cookie dough enough time to solidify in the baking process before the heat of the oven causes the butter to become runny.  Don't over-chill, though, or you'll end up with the opposite problem:  tall cookie mounds that don't bake all the way through in the center.

I was going to say the same thing! I have made the same mistake of microwaving my butter and the cookies came out completely flat.

[xx_Kellybean]

my mom has two chocolate chip cookie recipes. one comes out flat like that, and the other comes out puffy like none other. i'll try and get the puffy one from her if you'd like....but my favorite seem to be the flat ones.

[opiniongirl]

I live at 6500 ft, and I think the altitude affects chocolate chip cookies ALOT.  I never had any trouble at sea level... They say for high altitude, you should reduce the amount of leavening and add a little extra flour.  The altitude causes the leavening to react more quickly and vigorously before the other ingredients have had a chance to set, so they poof up real quick and then collapse... I'm not clever enough to figure out how to modify existing recipes, but I have a great cookie that does great up here on the mountain.

I got this recipe from a friend, and it makes the most delicious, tall, fluffy looking cookies ever.  You may have to play around with the amt of flour- I usually go for a 1/4 less than the recipe calls for (you can always add it in the end if the dough seems too gooey), and my oven bakes hot, so I only bake 8-10 minute- other than that its very forgiving.  I am lazy and never cream my butter and sugar, but the cookies always turn out good.

3/4 c. Shortening (butter flavored is good)
1 c. Brown Sugar
1/4 c. White Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 3/4 c. Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 c. chocolate chips

Mix shortening & sugar, add other wet ingredients.  Sift dry ingredients together, add to wet ingredients.  Drop onto cookie sheet, bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (or less- keep an eye on them).

Hope this works for you- its my new favorite recipe and its great for high altitude.

[frogeyesalad]

As opposed to the amount of butter, as Avian Flight mentions, it might actually be the temperature of the butter (or the shortening, or whatever) when the cookies go into the oven that makes the difference.  I remember seeing on one of those cooking shows on the Food Network (I think it was Good Eats?) a discussion of the perfect cookie, and one of the tips was to make sure your butter wasn't too soft.  I think I somewhat proved this fact to myself once when I over-microwaved a stick of butter to soften it, ended up with completely melted butter, and my cookies came out of the oven much thinner than usual.

That's interesting, I found that mine come out way fluffier when I DO melt the butter! But I let it cool before I mix it with any ingredients. I now melt my butter for every kind of cookies I make, interesting how different it works for everyone:)

[Muria]

One of the things that definitely influences cookies is what kind of fat you use. Do not EVER use low fat margarine to make cookies. They don't turn out (I think it's the high water content, and the fact that they melt faster).

An interesting resource on cookies is: http://www.8legged.com/Kitchen/FSL05.html
I don't actually like his cookie recipe, but the scientific explanation is interesting.

Good luck!

[bekahzzz]

I would say chilling the dough would help. Using a scoop that mounds it up nice and then chilling it already scooped has always helped me. Its worth a try anyway.

They still look good to me. 

[Wildfyre]

Parchment paper helps

I have a recipe I've used for years.. they always turn out excellent.. but I always bake with parchment paper. Well I ran out of it and had to bake a bunch of cookies and they almost all turned out like that. Nothing else changed - all the ingredients were exactly the same, same oven, same temps..

Just an idea 

[ymer]

Normally my cookies turn out just dandy, but I've had a batch turn out just like this!  The only thing I could think of was that I beat them too long (we have an electric mixer) to where the batter became more 'whipped' than just... stirred.  If that makes sense.  Hahaha, anyway it screwed my cookies up =/  I know the ingredients were right when I did it.  The batter was tasty! 

tl;dr:  don't whip your cookies   

pee ess:  Apparently this results in 'puffy' cookies?  It wasn't the case here, who knows.  Could be an altitude thing.