How do you keep chocolate chip cookies from spreading too thin when you bake them?

Answer 1

Add a little corn starch/ corn flour. It makes them really crisp too.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I used to have that issue as well when I would make chocolate chip cookies. I found that at times, depending upon the humidity in the air and the weather in general, the batter would not be thick enough.

Typical batch calls for about 2 1/4 cups of flour. I add that, and follow the recipe. At the end, right before I am ready to start spooning the dough onto the cookie sheet, I will add more flour, mixing it into the batter about 1/4 cup at a time. I do this until the dough is visually thicker, and it is stiff and hard to stir. It should be about the consistency of being able to roll balls of dough, but not quite. This method makes some tasty, thick and great cookies. I get complements on my cookies all the time!

Good luck!

Answer 4

1. Choose your butter carefully. I find that certain stick butters work better than others, such as Land O Lakes. If you have switched to margarine, the cookies will spread more. And be sure not to over-cream the butter if you are using a powerful mixer. The cookies will turn out flatter if you inadvertently over-creaming the butter and sugar.

2. Consider using shortening. Some bakers like to use a combination of 50 percent butter and 50 percent shortening. Shortening is not as sensitive to shifts in temperature and the butter will give the cookie flavor. Cookies made with shortening will not spread as much or become thin and crispy.

3. Use cold ingredients when mixing the recipe.

4. Use half dark brown sugar and half white sugar for a chewier cookie.

5. Preheat the oven before putting the cookies in. Make sure you have a hot oven.

6. Hang an oven thermometer, available from the grocery store, in your oven. Adjust the temperature as necessary.

7. Place the cookie dough on cold baking sheets only.

8. Refrigerate the dough, formed on the baking sheet, before baking. I place the cookie sheet with the dough on it in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the cookie sheet directly into the oven.

9. It is better to slightly undercook cookies then to overbake them. Let them sit for one minute on the cookie sheet before removing them to the cooling rack.

These are all tips that I've followed for years..also...you should always use a scoop to place cookie dough on a sheet. This creates very uniform cookies that look very professional.

Also...if you're looking to bake some really big, impressive cookies I form very chilled cookie dough into a donut form..make sure there is a nice hole in the middle. The cookies turn out very large and the batter spreads to the middle filling up the hole while it cooks. Perfect 'big" cookies every time.

Answer 5

#1 Cookie Question - Why do my cookies spread and thin out while baking?

Easy Solution: Bake a test cookie to get an indication of dough condition before baking an entire batch. If it spreads too much, one of the following could be the cause:

Dough was not properly chilled.


Pure cane sugar (sucrose) was not used; fructose sugar or a blend of sugars was substituted.


Baking pans were greased too much. Don't grease the cookie sheet unless the recipe calls for it.


Dough was placed on warm baking sheets.


Used a low-fat margarine, diet spread, or vegetable-oil spread instead of butter or shortening. Never use a low-fat spread with 60% or less fat. Low-fat spreads have a higher moisture content and will make cookie dough very soft.


Butter makes cookies spread if the dough is too soft before baking.

Not having the butter at the right consistency when making the dough. The dough should be soft enough to allow you to poke an indentation with your finger, but the indentation shouldn't stay.

If using 100% butter, start with CHILLED butter right from the refrigerator versus room temperature. Cut butter into 1-inch cubes and chill again before using in your recipe.

Substitute shortening instead of butter, as butter melts faster than solid shortening. Even 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening will melt more slowly than butter-only.


Used the wrong type of flour. Flour can affect how cookies bake and behave. Flours with a high protein content (bread flour and all-purpose flour) produce cookies that tend to be flatter, darker, and more crisp than their counterparts made with cake or pastry flour. Unbleached all-purpose flour is recommended for the best spread on cookies. Bleached or chlorinated flours reduce spread.

Answer 6

There are two things that I do to help keep my dough from spreading. First of all, I use only butter for my dough and not margarine. Secondly, I chill my dough before placing it on the cookie sheet and return remaining dough to the fridge while the first batch is baking.

Because butter hardens and the dough is cold when going into the oven, it takes longer for the cookies to spread and therefore eliminates ultra thin cookies.

A cookie recipe that has always worked very well for me is the recipe on the back of Mrs. Field's chocolate chips.

Answer 7

Whenever I make chocolate chip cookies, I use the usual ingredients: flour, chocolate chips, sugar, brown sugar, etc. However, I also am sure to include baking soda. It helps to create some "lift" in the cookie and it helps with the predicament you are explaining.

Another way to ensure that the cookie does not become flat and dull depends on how you scoop the cookie onto your baking surface. I use a small ice cream scoop so I have the same size cookies. Try going to Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma, IKEA, Wal-Mart, Target, or other places to find a small ice cream scooper. It will come out in the shape of a small ball and will spread evenly without getting too thin, frail, or even creating a hole in the cookie.

Good luck and best wishes with your cookies - I'm sure they're yummy either way!

Answer 8

Might try a little different recipe :

3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups finely chopped zucchini
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in the zucchini. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; stir into the zucchini mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until edges are light brown. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Answer 9

This has likely been said somewhere in the 200+ answers already but I thought I would put it out there just incase anyways.

I know a problem that I have had is using light margerine. Light anything in baking just doesn't often work (same with using 1% milk instead of 2%). Light margerine doesnt seem to hold the ingrediants together well when heated and then you end up with paper thin cookies. If you add flour to compensate for the gooeyness of the batter, you could end up with flavourless cookies/muffin like cookies, which trust me arent that great.

Also like many other people said just roll them in a ball and leave them, dont bother flattening them, they will melt under the heat into perfect cookie form.

Best of luck! Hope your cookies turn out great!

Answer 10

The spreading occurs because the cookie dough warms up and thins out before the outside of the dough can harden from the oven temperature.

For best results, use very cold cookie dough, frozen is not necessary, but be sure to bake them in a pre-heated oven. Cold dough placed in a hot oven can only spread out a little before it is baked hard on the outside.

Every oven is different and it's possible that your oven isn't properly calibrated. If the previous advice doesn't solve your problem, try boosting the heat a little, about 25 degrees higher when you bake your cookies.

Answer 11

Sugar in some form is used in all cookie recipes. It is an important tenderizing ingredient. Undesolved sugar crystals melt during baking which contributes to the flow or spread of the cookies. Creaming the butter and sugar really well before adding the flour keeps the cookies from spreading. Do not overmix after adding the dry ingredients, you do not want the gluten to develop as this will make a tough cookie- nor do you want to add flour- this will only serve to toughen the cookie also. Chill the dough and use cool cookie sheets. Good Luck