Secret to stop Toll House cookies spreading? - Page 5

I also struggled for years to find a good puffy cc cookie recipe. I've even made Alton Brown's Puffy! It came out good, but not great. So I went back on the hunt. I found a recipe that PROMISED big fat cookies so I gave it a try and with just a couple of tweaks, I STRUCK CCC GOLD lol ! A couple of the amount measurements are a little strange, but this recipe was adapted from a BIG restaurant recipe. And obviously, this recipe makes a lot.

Ingredients
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 egg
2 egg yolks
3 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325. Sift together dry ingredients. Cream together melted butter and sugars very well. Beat in vanilla, eggs and yolks until light and fluffy. Mix in sifted dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in choc chips by hand. Scoop cookies out in preferred method onto cookie sheets (I use a small/med ice cream scooper), leaving about 3 inches between. Bake 12-15 min or until edges are lightly toasted. Cool slightly on baking sheets, then transfer to cooling racks.

***NOTE: I first baked these using my Silpats, because I am just in the habit of using them. The cookies tasted AMAZING, but spread out like little Frisbees. Grrrr. I tried again without the Silpat and bingo!!! I've been using this recipe/method for several years and have never been disappointed!

Sassy, did you use parchment paper or did you spay the cookie sheets with something? I usually use silpats or parchment paper, so was wondering what you did different with the pans to prevent sticking.

Gerle, parchment paper works great. It obviously keeps the cookies from sticking, but it's not greasy so it gives the cookie a little resistance as it spreads. These cookies always come out looking like they belong on a magazine cover. Nice and round, but thick and fat. Perfect!

I have used a little no-stick cooking spray as well, but just a light spray. Once, I even baked them right on the cookie sheet with no spray or parchment, and only a couple stuck...these cookies have A LOT of butter in them, so they're quite forgiving. But parchment works best. I forgot to add that I keep this dough in the refrig sometimes for a day before I bake. It adds a minute or two to the baking time, but the cookies bake up so pretty.

I also didn't want a recipe with shortening. Nothing, I mean NOTHING, tastes quite like butter, and shortening leaves a greasy mouth-feel, in my opinion.

This is a large recipe, but I have frozen this dough with great results. It's wonderful if you want to mix up a batch, seal it well and freeze it in smaller batches. Then, you can take out a batch here and there and bake them up.

Sassy, thanks for the info. I'm definitely going to try this recipe. Funny...I don't personally like CCC, but my famiy loves them, so I make them pretty frequently. I'm sure they're going to love this recipe! Thank again!

Lutie is right! I used to have the same problems and I really researched baking cookies. Here is a link that has cookie tips it has really helped me. There is a specific part about spreading cookies under the DROP COOKIE tips. Something that I don't think was mentioned is checking the exp date of your baking soda or powder, if it's expired it can ruin your cookies! Just another thing to think about....good luck!

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Cookie/CookieTips.htm

Just a thought (and apologize if it was already mentioned) - have you tried placing the cookie dough on your baking sheets then chilling the dough? It works for me on butter cookies, wonder if it would work for you.

I have perfected the round, full, fluffy, big, totally delicious CCC. It is easy. Follow the Toll House recipe but use 3 3/4 C flour instead of the 2 1/4C the recipe calls for. Bake on parchment paper for 11 minutes at 350. PERFECTION!

My chocolate chip cookies never stick to the cookie sheet, and I never use parchment or spray or mats. The only cookies that ever stick are ones with very sticky, sugary doughs, or jelly fillings. A stiff, thin bladed spatula will remove the cookies with no problems.

OP, you've received some great advice on baking science.
I'll add two things to the debate:
Cookie sheets should be cooled completely before the next batch of dough is placed on them.
I have had luck substituting one-third to one-half of the butter with margarine in the Toll House recipe.

Hello to all the former (and present) Home Ec Teachers out there! I'm so sorry that in so many areas of the country our profession is dying; and that kids aren't learning the wonderful things we once taught.

I just read about this very subject in my new baking science book, "Bakewise," by Shirley Corriher. According to her, the creator of the Toll House recipe, Ruth Wakefield, was most likely using a high-protein flour from spring wheat, which is what would have been available at that time in New England, where she lived. High protein flours hold much more water than the lower protein all-purpose flours that are now available in grocery stores. This is why the dough is so soft and spreads so much. She says that a simple solution is to use bread flour, which would be closer in protein content to the flour originally used, or to simply add more flour to the dough as many PPs have suggested.

Also, baking soda has four times the leavening powder of baking powder, so you can't just swap out equal amounts. If you reduce the baking soda by 1/4 t. you would need to add a full teaspoon of baking powder.

I've always been a nerd, and I love baking, so I'm having a great time reading about baking science.

I'd pretty much given up on getting a cc cookie that didn't go flat! Now, I can't wait to try out some of these tips! Thanks ladies!!!

I know you do not want a recipe with shortening, however i tried it and I love this recipe...


3/4 c Butter flavored Crisco
1 1/4 c Firmly packed brown sugar
2 tb Milk
1 tb Vanilla
1 Egg
1 3/4 c All-purpose flour
1 ts Salt
3/4 ts Baking soda
1 c Semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c Pecan pieces


Preparation
Heat oven to 375. Cream butter flavor crisco, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Blend until creamy. Blend in egg. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture, gradually. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop rounded Tablespoonfuls (about 2 measuring tablespoons) of dough 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies (they will look light and moist) DO NOT OVERBAKE or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes. Remove to coo rack. 3 dozecn 3-inch cookies. Note: if nuts are omitted, use 1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, you can also use chunks of chocolate instead of chips...

Lutie... it's not that I don't understand what you are saying, and I completely agree with creaming the crap out of my butter and sugar for cakes. I am an avid scratch baker and do understand the process, and not because of me watching Food TV. I may not teach food science, but I have years of baking under my belt and have researched plenty and know what works for me.



BUT... for chocolate chip cookies I (personally) don't want all of that air. I don't want to cream the butter a lot because I want a flatter (but not too flat) more chewy cookie that comes from less altering of the fat as opposed to the cookie I would get if I creamed the butter more. Sounded like what the OP was after as well so I shared what works for me. Perhaps I generalized more than necessary, but this was in response to the OP's specific dilemma with her cookies.

I let my butter and sugar for cakes cream until it is light and super fluffy since I want that air in there, but I have made CCC and creamed the butter and sugars a bunch and was not happy with the end result. I do what works for me and my recipe. It's funny how one person's never do it can be another person's works for me everytime.

When you use butter in a recipe it will warm up and that is where some of your spreading will occur.
If you place your dough back in the fridge so that the butter is cold you should have less of a problem.
I even put my cookies on the cookie sheet in the fridge to get the butter to harden.
This way, when in the oven it will melt but won't spread as much since it was cold to begin with. Butter spreads a great deal when warm.
I hope this helps.

I am also looking for that perfect consistency in a ccc. I want a thick soft cookie without the crunchy edges. Tried another recipe from allrecipes that called for baking at a low temp 300 but it just gave me crunchy flat edges with a weird shaped middle. So i just baked the rest of the dough in 350 oven and they came out ok but not what i'd like.
I will try one of the recipes posted above (the one with the weird amounts as the poster said it was scaled down from a restaurant recipe) to see if i can come any closer to what i like in a ccc. The quest goes on....