Question about Tollhouse cookies (997 views)

Well since I have more than a few tollhouse cookies, I thought I would be able to answer, but so sorry nope. I've heard of using shortening, but I've never used shortening in any recipe -- so no experience.

I've also read that chilling dough can help. And, making sure cookie sheets are cool (I don't often do the latter since in a rush etc).

So sorry not much help, hopefully a more experienced baker could comment but thought I would bump for others.

Please bear with me. This is a lengthy reply. Excerpts from 2005 CLBB thread where beckyM asks "What's wrong with my chocolate chip cookies?" - specifically Tollhouse cookies although she bakes them without nuts.

"The past several times I've tried making the regular old Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, they have come out EXTREMELY flat and gooey, and I don't know what is wrong. This is the recipe I have used for YEARS, ever since I learned how to bake from my mother. I don't remember having this problem back then.
One theory is that Mom never bought butter back then, so I always baked with margarine. Now I am using butter -- could that be the problem? The recipe calls for two sticks of butter or margarine, so I've been using one stick of unsalted and one stick of salted butter (I wasn't sure which to use, so I compromised). Other than that, I've been following the recipe exactly. I haven't been adding the nuts (because DH doesn't like them), but I wouldn't think that is much of an issue.
I've even refrigerated the dough before baking, and I haven't re-used the cookie sheets (use a clean, cool one each time), so I figure it's not that the dough is too warm going into the oven."

acginkc:
I have used both butter and margerine in making CC cookies, and the margerine ones are a bit fluffier, but my ones with butter are my favorites. The times I have had problems, I have noticed that I either melted the butter (rather than just letting it soften), I have over mixed the butter and sugar to where it got a little too creamy, I have added the flour too quickly (I try to add it in 3 installments), or my oven temp has been off. I have just started to have success with cookies, so I have had plenty of failed batches. I use unsalted butter, but that is just usually what I grab at the store.

annagins:
If you're using the Toll House recipe, your cookies shouldn't be quite so thin, but they won't be super-high either. You could change recipes, but it might be interesting to solve the problem and figure out what is going on.
A friend of mine suggested flat cookies might be due to eggs that are either too fresh or not fresh enough. Another thing might be the way you are measuring your flour. Are you a light and dainty leveler or a free-wheeling scooper? I go both ways depending on my mood and my cookies are thinner when I do the scoop and scrape.
And one other thing you could try -- though it might not make a difference since you are chilling your dough, is to make sure the butter is room temperature or maybe even a little cold before you beat it up with the mixer.

valchemist:
I think that the tollhouse recipe is simply not your best choice. I realize some people swear by it, but that is mainly because that is what they grew up with or that is one of only a few recipes they have tried.

RobinC:
Answers from KA Flour's FAQ:
Cookies spread more than you'd like for various reasons. First, your pan may be too hot; drop cookie dough onto a cool pan, not a hot-from-the-oven pan. Second, cookies made with a lot of butter will spread because the melting point of butter is lower than that of shortening, and the butter in the cookie -- which has been providing the cookie's structure -- melts before the cookie "sets up." Try substituting shortening or butter-flavored shortening for some or all of the butter in your recipe. Finally, cookies with too much sugar will spread; sugar is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts and holds water. This water isn't absorbed into the flour, and as the cookies bake, the sugar lets go of the water it was holding, which makes the cookie dough too liquid. Try using a bit less sugar, or fine-crystal sugar (which attracts and holds less water than its large-crystal cousin).

mbrogier:
The Toll House recipe doesn't work with butter. It is pretty good with butter flavor crisco (sub same amount) and all brown sugar.

KAnn:
My Toll House cookies are maybe my most requested recipe...I use 1 stick of unsalted butter and 1/2 C of Crisco. I also changed the brown sugar/sugar ratio. I use 1 C of brown sugar and 1/2 C of sugar. The rest is the same. People rave about them....(I add extra flour for the high altitude here in Denver but I used to live in the midwest and used the 2 1/4 C of flour as specified)
This is probably the only thing I use Crisco for...I now use the Trans Fat-Free, though.

Also by several posters: Is baking powder/soda too old?

cab321:
My grandmother always used the Toll House recipe and I learned to make chocolate chip cookies from her. Her secret was that she ALWAYS made a test cookie. She'd bake a single cookie, let it cool a little so that she could get a good look at it and try it. When they came out too flat we would add a little extra flour to the dough.

agmoneyb:
Hi! I too have always had trouble with the Toll House Recipe spreading too much.

valchemist:
Here are the tests for baking soda and baking powder (from the Baking 911 site).
Baking Soda Test: Add a couple tablespoons of white vinegar into a small cup, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda. If it froths like mad, it's good.
Baking Powder Test: To check your baking powder to see if it still causes a leavening reaction, first stir the contents of the can to see if there is any lumps. This is an indication that the baking powder has picked up moisture, and started a reaction in the can.
You can place a teaspoon of baking powder in a glass of tepid water to see if it fizzes.
Check the code dates on the bottom of the can to make sure it is still in code. Baking powder has a usual useful life of 24 months from the date of manufacture.

veschke:
I can't really add to all of this good advice, but I do find this pretty fascinating. I've been making Toll House cookies with butter (Cabot salted, for the record) for ten years, and never been tempted to try another recipe, I love them so. Have never had a problem with over-spreading, either.
I also use Eggland's best or similar brand eggs all the time, so I think that can be ruled out.
I don't think I've ever used more than a quarter of a box of baking soda before I tuck it into the fridge and buy a fresh one, but maybe I'm a little paranoid on that score. :-)
I do have one suggestion: pick up an oven thermometer, just for the peace of mind. When baking goes whacky, I tend to blame the hardware.

It's all science! Here's a link with pictures.

Cookie Chart

A quote from the link about shortening and butter: "Trade the butter for shortening. Arias notes that this ups the texture but reduces some flavor; her suggestion is to use half butter and half shortening."

Thanks for all the responses!

Swedishcook - really appreciate you cutting and pasting (at least I hope that's what you did and didn't type it) from the old CLBB.

I think I will go the 1/2 and 1/2 route. I came down with a bad case of the flu so never got around to baking anything over the weekend - hence my delayed response to all of you. I'm feeling a little better now but it will probably be a day or two before I feel like cooking or baking much.

And like many of you, my mother never bought butter so I'm sure we always used margarine. Hadn't even thought of that!

There is also the classic Alton Brown's recipe - three chips for Sister Marcia which makes chocolate chip cookies three ways and one variation uses bread flour. I believe there were also extensive discussions on it but you can google the recipes easily enough and I believe they are also discussed in his cookbooks. It's been awhile but as I recall, the version made with bread flour produced a chewy version because of the gluten.

Regarding butter cookies, it is always extremely helpful to chill the dough AFTER you have put the cookies on the sheet. The very short explanation is that the colder the butter and dough, the longer the cookies will have to rise and somewhat set before the shortening melts. It is also helpful to cream the dough very well because it is the sugar interacting with butter which creates small air pockets producing loft.

And of course it's a question of taste. I personally love the crisper texture of butter cookies. A cookie made with shortening is always going to produce a cakier texture because of the difference in melting point but even some cookies made with all butter will produce a cakey type result like the recipes for Black and White Cookies which essentially produce a cookie that is like the top of a cupcake.

I came this close to buying chocolate chips today. This thread is to blame. Ha. I'm thinking I need to make cc cookies, they are still an all time favorite.

I really like CL's Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip, and Pecan Cookies (not a straight cc cookie, but IMO really good!).

mcgee -- hope the cookies turn out great, with whatever tweaks you might make.