Rocko Bonaparte posted:

I'm trying to figure out how to modify the classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe to get flat, spread, rippled cookies. My wife grew up on those and she's quite fond of that style. Oddly enough, I'd get those growing up sometimes from that recipe (and sometimes not) and my mom prefer that style too. However, if I make the cookies from that recipe, I don't get that effect.

Okay, there was one time it happened and I had used margarine. Both sides of the family were doing these in the 80s and 90s, so I had a theory we were all paranoid about butter, so I tried margarine. That seemed to work, but only once. When I tried it again, I didn't get the spread.

I was thinking of reducing the flour and switching to cake flour next as an experiment. Another change in process has been using a disher for portioning the cookies. Traditionally, we'd just slide the dough off a spoon, and I can imagine starting out with a taller cookie ball just mechanically prevents them from spreading as much.