I just bought one of those cookie sheets also. I haven't tried it yet though. Glad it worked for you. Lots of people here have issues with chocolate chip cookies spreading. To be honest, mine always turn out better when I use Crisco instead of butter. Um...er...if you need help eating those cookies, bons, just let me know. I could sacrifice and take some off your hands, LOL. Sherry

I bake little to nothing other than cookies so I'm no baking expert but I finally got a recipe from a friend that works for me. Pillowy, chewy cookies vs. some previous pancake flat or rock hard recipes I've tried. I don't refrigerate the dough, I use butter and I bake using convection. What I have noticed after using this recipe many times is that the outcome in terms of plump vs. flat does seem to have something to do with how soft the butter is. Yesterday I made them and remembered to take the butter out early so it just softened on the counter. It wasn't all that soft when I made them and they turned out perfect in my opinion. Other times I've had to carefully soften the butter in the microwave. The softer the butter the flatter the cookies. And the harder the butter the more ball shaped the cookies end up. I can also tell the difference in the consistency of the dough - even though all the ingredients are the same. If the dough is "dry" enough that I can form the cookies into a ball then they turn out great (I do make them into balls rather than dropping by spoonful). If it's stickier they end up flatter. If my theory is true, then chilling the dough in the fridge makes sense as the fat would harden as it chills.

IÂm sorry to report that IÂve taken a serious break from the Chocolate Chip Cookie quest. The journey has cost me pounds of butter, sugar, and weight, only to realize that each individualÂs pursuit is unique and personal i.e. "my cookie may not be your cookie." That said, IÂm enjoying reading everyoneÂs success and that picture is enough to make me rethink the issue, Jo. Confession: I grew up on Crisco cookies (with the ½ tsp. Water), with enough cookie to match chocolate, puffy yet chewy, etc., and I loved them. I now make "Marvelous Marble Squares" from my old "The Happy Cooker" Jewish cookbook, which are butter based, chocolate chips swirled on top baked in jelly roll pan. Big bang for the time, crowd pleaser and closest to my memories. Cathy in SWPA

Lulu, I don't know if this will help because the names of the qualities one wants aren't scientific or universal: I learned in a class from a baking scientist (a friend dragged me there but I learned some good stuff!) that a teaspoon of water in a regular batch of cookies (i.e., several dozen average size) makes the difference between chewy and hard, all other things being equal. So when Nestle took the spoon of water out of the Toll House recipe on the package, they were opting for crisper than chewier. Do be sure to use cane sugar. There are people who can successfully use beet sugar because they know how, but cookies are the most sensitive to different ingredients, and there's a 3% difference in the makeup between cane and beet sugar. Beet bakes up much drier. Also, regular cookie recipes assume granulated white sugar, not superfine (also called castor sugar or baking sugar) or raw or anything else. The brown sugar should be white cane sugar which has molasses added. Other kinds of sugar work differently. You can adapt recipes to them, but they're not likely to come out just right as written. Basic American recipes also assume bleached white AP flour. They'll usually work out fine with unbleached, but the texture may be affected. The process of bleaching affects how it absorbs water. The kind of butter you use makes a difference, too. Different butters have different water contents. High quality American style butters have a butterfat content of 82-83%, and the difference is reflected in the water content. European style butter has 85-86% butterfat, and American bargain butter has about 80% butterfat. Most American recipes are meant for the 82%. You can't tell from the per serving nutrition information, but even if your brand doesn't say what the percentage is on the package, they often will on their websites, or sometimes you can find it on baking or nutrition oriented websites. Usually, if it doesn't say, however, top brands are the 82% and discount brands are 80%. The Euro style ones will usually say that they are. Use the euro style for croissants and the American premium for cookies. Baking margarine (inc. "vegan butter") is only suitable for cookies if it's sticks with 100 Calories per tablespoon. The others have too much water and/or other weirdness that might work fine on your baked potato but won't bake right. Margarine has a different sized fat globule and a much higher melting point. This greatly affects the texture of the cookies. Use butter if you want a melt in your mouth kind of cookie, and/or a crispier one. Also, if you're doing dough balls that are supposed to spread in the heat of the oven. Use margarine for drop cookies that spread less and hold the shape you make them better because of the higher melting point. This also lets you skip the chill before baking step that helps when you use butter. (The proportions of flour to fat, etc., in cut out cookies are generally such that they hold their shape even with butter.) When I make flat chewy Toll House, I use The Expert's method: Make a quenelle of cookie dough, place it on the sheet, then flatten with the back of the spoon. The Expert, who is famed amongst those who know for his Toll House cookies, is also the one who contributed the instruction to pull the pre-flattened cookies out of the oven before the centers are set. If you wait for them to completely firm up they won't be particularly chewy. The edges should be firm, with the faintest hint of brown, when you take them out, and they finish up on the warm cookie sheet. Finally, do make sure your oven is well calibrated. If it's too accurate, it might also affect older recipes and need to be adjusted down a little. If it's an older or less precise oven with a greater variation of actual temperature, the setting and/or time may be affected. Even so, each oven is different. Don't just follow the recipe on that. Get to know your own oven, and what timings and temperatures give you your desired results. An extra minute can also be the difference between chewy and hard. I don't know if this addresses your problem, but most often with cookie issues it's because of the ingredients being different or the bake time/heat not being watched.. Good luck!