kadyellebee

Fatten Up. What kind of fat you use in your recipe and how you treat it will make a huge difference to the end result, determining if your cookie spreads out into a thin mass on the cookie sheet or pretty much keeps its original shape. The fats most often used in chocolate chip cookies are butter, margarine and shortening. Shortening and margarine are fairly heat-stable so they will help cookies keep their original unbaked shape. Butter melts at a much lower temperature than the other solid fats, so cookies made with it will tend to spread out. The amount of fat also affects the cookies. More fat equals flatter and chewier to crispier cookies; less fat equals puffier and more cake-like cookies.
Mix it Up. The most important step in cookie mixing is the creaming step. This is where the fat and the sugar are whipped together until light-colored, smooth and fluffy. This helps to incorporate air into the batter, which you need if you want your baking soda and/or baking powder to work. The fat should be at room temperature--not cold, and not melted—before combining it with the other ingredients. Another important factor is not to overmix the dough. Once you combine the dry and wet ingredients, mix until just combined and no longer.

Get Results. Here’s a quick reference for getting the results you want. FLAT: Use all butter; use all-purpose flour or bread flour; increase the sugar content slightly; add a bit of liquid to your dough; bring the dough to room temperature before baking. PUFFY: Use shortening or margarine and cut back on the fat; add an egg; cut back on the sugar; use cake flour or pastry flour; use baking powder instead of baking soda; refrigerate the dough before baking. CHEWY: Remove the cookies a few minutes before they are done, while the edges are slightly golden but the middle still looks slightly doughy. Use brown sugar or honey as a sweetener; or replace each whole egg with two egg yolks. CRISPY: Bake your cookies a few minutes longer than suggested and immediately remove them to wire racks to cool. Use all butter and a high ratio of white sugar; use bread flour.