The most common reason for your cookies to turn out flat and crispy is over mixing the dough, which results in too much air getting incorporated into the cookie dough.
Other reasons for your cookies to turn out flat and crispy are using butter that is too soft, butter that is not cold enough or not using enough flour in the cookie dough.
If the cookie dough doesn't have enough flour, then the cookies might not have enough structure to hold their shape as the cookies bake, which leads to flat, spread out cookies.
Over mixing the cookie dough develops the gluten in the flour and can lead to tough and dense cookies which spread out excessively during baking which results in cookies that are thin and flat.
Butter that is too soft or slightly melted when added to the cookie dough can cause the cookies to spread out excessively and become flat and crispy.
And if the butter is not cold enough in the cookie dough, the butter can melt too quickly in the oven and make the cookie dough liquid and cause flat, crispy cookies.
Using too much sugar, incorrect fat to flour ratio and not chilling the cookie dough before baking can also cause the cookies to turn out flat and crispy.
Chilling the cookie dough before baking allows the butter to firm up and prevent the cookies from spreading too much and becoming flat.
To make cookies taste better use unsalted butter or butter instead of oil and use high quality ingredients and use brown sugar, extracts and you can also add nuts, chocolate chunks and spices.
Butter in cookies adds a better flavor than oil or margarine or shortening and the use of brown sugar also adds a deeper, molasses like flavor and moisture.
And ensure the flour is fresh as using stale flour can lead to a poor tasting cookie.
If making chocolate chip cookies use chunks or high quality chocolate chips for a richer flavor.
You can also use Vanilla extracts, almond or even rum extract in your cookies which adds a subtle and delicious flavor and spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon can add flavor to your cookies.
When chilling cookie dough the cookie dough should be chilled for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 24 hours if you want a deeper flavor and darker color.
30 minutes to an hour is often enough for chilling cookie dough although the longer you can chill the cookie dough the better.
You should scoop the cookie dough before chilling as chilled cookie dough is often difficult to scoop up.
It's also easier to form the cookie dough into balls while the cookie dough is still soft.
Chilled cookie dough becomes firm and makes it harder to scoop and could damage cookie scoops so the cookie dough should be scooped before you chill the cookie dough.
For best results when baking cookies the cookie dough should be chilled before baking.
When cookie dough is chilled before baking it helps to solidify the fats in the cookie dough and prevents excessive spreading and results in a more desirable texture and shape of the cookies.
Chilling the cookie dough allows the fats such as the butter to solidify and in turn helps to reduce spreading as the solid fats take longer to melt in the oven and prevents the cookies from spreading out and becoming thin and flat.
Chilling the cookie dough also improves the texture and results in cookies with a chewier, more substantial texture, especially for chocolate chip cookies and it also enhances the flavor and makes shaping of the cookies easier.
Cookies should bake for 8 minutes to 12 minutes at 350 F and you should always check for doneness of the cookies by looking for any golden edges and a set center which means the cookies are done.
After baking the cookies you should allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes before you transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
If you want crispier cookies you should bake the cookies for a bit longer or around 10 minutes to 12 minutes and for softer and chewier cookies you should bake the cookies for slightly less time or around 8 minutes to 10 minutes.
Crisco also makes cookies softer than butter does although butter results in a better flavor to the cookies but you can also use half butter and half Crisco or half butter and half oil in cookies.
Crisco is better than butter for cookies if you want a softer and less spread out texture.
However if you want your cookies to have a richer and more flavorful taste then butter is better for the cookies.
To keep cookies moist bake the cookies so they're slightly underdone and store the cookies in an airtight container along with a slice of white bread or an apple slice.
You can also use melted butter or corn syrup in the recipe and use brown sugar with retains more moisture in the cookies than white sugar does.
You can also switch some of the white sugar in any cookie recipe for more brown sugar and or a couple of tablespoons of corn syrup.
What makes cookies soft is ingredients like brown sugar and syrup that help retain moisture and also slightly under baking the cookies.
Brown sugar retains more moisture in the cookies than white sugar does and will lead to a softer texture and softer cookie.
The best flour for cookies is all purpose flour which is the best choice when it comes to making cookies.
All purpose flour offers a balance of protein content for good texture, whether you want soft and chewy cookies or slight crispy cookies.
The secret to chewy cookies is to use an extra egg yolk and cornstarch and more brown sugar than white sugar.
Using more brown sugar than white sugar when making cookies results in a softer, chewy and moisture cookie.
Using an extra egg yolk increases the chewiness of the cookies.
Also rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth will give your cookies the bakery style textured thickness.
To make cookies chewy without cornstarch.
Go heavy on brown sugar. It has more moisture than its granulated counterpart, which means the cookie comes out less crispy.
Choose margarine or shortening instead of butter.
Use baking powder instead of baking soda.
Rest your dough.
Shorten baking time.
The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy.
The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.
Cookies that are dense and chewy incorporate more moisture into the batter.
This can be achieved by making substitutions with wet and dry ingredients, or even just changing the way you incorporate certain ingredients.