Really flat cookies

I'd bet dollars to doughnuts that you're dropping the cookies on hot cookie sheets. I used to run into this problem myself when I'd be rotating some 4-6 sheets at a time. Yes, your dough may be getting a bit warm by the time you put it on the sheets, but that's probably not enough by itself to cause thin/flat cookies without the addition of the warm cookie sheets. If you don't want to take time to cool the sheets before putting the next batch on, try dropping your cookies onto sheets of parchment, pulling or lifting the parchment onto the cookie sheets and popping them right into the oven. You'll have less sticking, too.

Hope this helps (and is relatively coherent -- I'm fighting a nasty summer cold :)).

-j

To keep cookies from spreading out too thin, in addition to using half shortening/half butter, you can also try adding a little more flour to the recipe. Another quarter to a half a cup of flour does the trick (depending upon the recipe). I like a thicker cookie rather than wafer thin cookies, so I usually end up adding more flour.

To cool the cookie sheets in between batches, I open one of my kitchen drawers and set the cookie sheet across it (a sort of built in cooling rack).

LeAnn

Author of the book ? Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm)