How do I make my cookies not flat?

I made chocolate chip cookies today and followed the recipe (it was the tollhouse recipe on the package of chips). I've made them before and they always turn out great. Today they are very flat. They look fine when I pull them out of the oven but while they sit out to cool, they turn very thin. They still taste the same and they're very good they just don't look like they will be good. How come they turned out this way?

Don't fret over 1 failed batch of cookies. I've been baking cookies for about 5 decades and can attest that cookies do occasionally fail for no seemily apparent reason. But there usually is a credible explanation. If the flour has not been stored in a sealed container and humidity is high, the flour will collect extra moisture. Extra moisture is nearly always the reason cookies, cakes, breads and quiches fall when they cool. This is why diet or lite margarine cannot be used successfully in cookies and other breads unless the flour content is increased to compensate for the water that is whipped into these products (That's how the manufacturer makes them "lite"). Another cause for flat cookies is the shortening was too soft (See below). Cookies made w/ butter taste better and if the temp of the butter is correct they will not be noticeably flatter than cookies made w/ Crisco or similar shortening or margarine. High quality margarine (oil content 60% or more) is a suitable substitute for butter or Crisco. But the taste will be different.

The most critical step in making cookies is creaming the butter and sugar. The leavening in most cookie recipes, including toll house cookies, is a direct result of the creaming of the butter and sugar. As the sugar is whisked thru the butter it cuts tiny forrows that get folded over and air is trapped. If the butter is too cold the sugar cuts a shallow furrow and the butter is not folded over to trap the air. If the butter is too warm the furrows collapse before they are folded over and no air is trapped. The temperature of the butter should be about 70F. If you don't have a thermometer you can test this way: Pick up the stick of butter by one end, if it doesn't squish between your fingers or sag, then the butter is not too warm. Now grasp the other end stick of butter with your other hand and try to bend the stick. If it bends without breaking then it is not too cold.

The eggs perform better in the mixture if they are at room temperature because the protein shains are more elastic - sorta like when your msucles are cold or warm.

When creaming the butter and sugar use med to hi speed, then: use the mixer on lo speed to incorporate the dry ingredients. Do not over mix the dry ingredients. When adding the dry ingredients to the creamed sugar and butter, and egg mixture; stop mixing as soon as the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Mixing the dry into the wet is easier if you put 1/3 to 1/2 the dry into the wet, mix then repeat until all the dry is incorporated. After I cream the butter and sugar, I hand mix the dry into the wet.

Other notes: If you get in a hurry and place the dough on a hot cookie sheet they likely will fall during the baking phase. Parchment paper is a nicety but certainly not a necessity. Insulated baking sheets make a softer cookie because the bottom does not get as crispy as it does on a regular baking sheet. Do not leave the cookie on the sheet more than a couple of minutes - they'll overcook and get dry. Whipped butter has extra air plus added milk and cannot be substituted for regular butter in cookies, etc.

Happy Baking. And as I said earlier, don't fret over a failed recipe - it happens from time-to-time, even to Emeril and Rachel Ray. Julia Child always made light of her occasional failure - she was known for her blas茅 demeanor when her cooking went awry.

I agree. Margarine helps them not flatten. Also sometimes that happens to me when I have too much liquid in my cookies. Adding more dry ingredients helps them keep their shape.

Sometimes, if it is humid in your home, baked goods take on a mind of their own.

my mother always swore that if you used real butter it made choc. chip cookies flat...that you needed to use margarine or *oleo*.

i agree also but if you use real butter the taste better, quite the dilemma!

Can be several different reasons:

It was too warm in the kitchen and the dough was not properly chilled.

Dough put on overgreased or warm pan

Used a low-fat margarine or butter instead of regular margarine or shortening.

Used all-purpose instead of cake flour.

Accidently grabbed and used baking soda instead of baking powder.

Didn't use paper to line pans.