Help with Flat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a recipe that uses 3 C flour, 2C regular oatmeal, 1t baking soda, 1 1/2t salt, 2t vanilla and 2 eggs, 3 sticks of melted butter, 2 C brown sugar, 1C white sugar. They were So Flat and thin! What went wrong??

Sherry
  • Posted by: Sherry
  • July 17, 2023
  • 720 views
  • 9 Comments

9 Comments

drbabs
drbabs July 18, 2023
Maybe it’s the flour? I just looked through Shirley Corriher's Bakewise, and she talk about cookies made with lower protein flour spreading more, and higher protein flour spreading less. Maybe try using bread flour (very high protein)? Christina Tosi (Milk Bar) uses bread flour in her cookies because of the higher protein content.
 
Sherry
Sherry July 19, 2023
I will check it out. Thanks!
 
drbabs
drbabs July 19, 2023
Also, this occurred to me when I was lying in savasana in yoga class today. (Yes, I am that person who daydreams about solving baking problems.) You and your friend could be measuring your flour differently. One of the reasons modern recipes use weight instead of volume is to try and help cooks achieve consistency. But there are a lot of great recipes that use volume. Your friend might pack her cups tightly, and you might pack yours loosely. With all that butter, less flour will mean more spread. So you also might try adding a half cup of flour to see if you get the consistency you want.
 
Sherry
Sherry July 19, 2023
Yes! That could be the problem. Thanks!
 
HalfPint
HalfPint July 17, 2023
Was the dough well chilled when it was put into the oven? If not, then the warm dough will spread a lot during baking.

Also, that seems like a lot of sugar for a chocolate chip recipe. Almost double what I usually see in a chocolate chip cookie recipe.


 
Sherry
Sherry July 17, 2023
At first the dough wasn’t chilled. After that I put the dough in the refrigerator for 24 hrs. Still the same problem.
 
HalfPint
HalfPint July 17, 2023
@sherry, might be the amount of sugar then.
 
Sherry
Sherry July 18, 2023
Thank you!
 
Sherry
Sherry July 18, 2023
Spoke with my friend who makes this recipe all the time. She doesn't chill before baking and they are fine. I have another friend that makes cookies for a living and her recipe has 4 sticks of melted margarine, 3.5 - 4 cups of brown sugar and 2 cups white sugar, 4 C of flour 2 C quick oats, 2 eggs, 1tsp baking soda 1t salt 4 cups chocolate chips. She doesn't refrigerate her dough. Her cookies are big and delicious!
 
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