I make my Toll House cookies exactly the way the recipe says, and I have a feeling it’s the all-butter part of this recipe that tends to make the cookies spread out and get really thin (which hey- some people love). I also know that the temp of the dough can have a lot to do with it, but I usually don’t have time to chill the dough after I make it.
Some people use part crisco, some people add an extra egg. Any other suggestions for making a “meatier” Toll House cookie?
Use bread flour instead of all purpose.
Refrigeration is really important for better consistency. This is the recipe I use (it’s definitely NOT Toll House), and it’s killer.
Makes about two dozen cookies.
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour (8-1/2 oz)
1-2/3 cups bread flour (8-1/2 oz)
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1-1/2 tsp coarse salt
2-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1-1/4 cups light brown sugar (10 oz)
1 cup plus 2 TBSP granulated sugar (8 oz)
2 large eggs (immerse in warm water for five minutes to bring to room temperature)
2 tsp vanilla extract (not imitation)
1-1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks, at least 60% cacao content
Sea salt (optional)
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until very light, about five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients quickly and mix until just combined, 5-10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them by hand without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours, but now more than 72 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (unless you’re using non-stick pans). Scoop six 3-1/2 oz mounds of dough (think large golf ball) onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle lightly with the sea salt (if desired) and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
I found this recipe on a land-o-lakes butter package that makes an awesome dense cookie that doesn’t go dry or crumbly. Just make sure to make them as big as they say (1/4 cup dough for each cookie) and bake them thoroughly.
This has become our go-to recipe.
Also - are you sifting the flour before you measure it? The recipe doesn’t specify sifted or nonsifted, so I recently made two batches to see which I should do. (Ah, the sacrifices I make in the name of Science!) The ones with sifted flour were much much flatter than the nonsifted ones, which were less buttery and more dense.
This. It really sounds like you’re not adding enough flour. The standard Toll House cookie recipe isn’t flat and spread out. Don’t smoosh it down too much before baking. Don’t use Crisco -any Toll House cookies made with Crisco are going to be missing the butter flavor.
Are you letting your butter get to room temp before using it, or are you trying to speed up the warming process by using the microwave?
My roommate always warms (read: partially melts) his butter in the microwave instead of planning ahead and letting it sit out, and his cookies are ALWAYS flat.
The recipe relies on your butter being solids into which air is incorporated, not liquid. Please leave your butter out! 
This.
Cookies made with warm or melted butter will go flat while baking.
Cookies made with room-temperature or cold butter will be nice & dense.
I figured this out when I was about 12. My first food science experiment!
Do not use any butter. Use Crisco instead. Undercook them slightly.
Also, depending on altitude you need to adjust your recipe. Where I live, we are at about 3700 ft. I subtract a few tablespoons of sugar and add an egg to the tollhouse recipe because if I don’t my cookies are flat.
Salt! Optional?! In baked goods?
(I always put extra. Love to hit a big salt crystal in a bite of cookie :D)
Really? I lived at 5300 feet for a long time, and never had to make changes for cookies.
When I was stumblupon-ing around I saw a blogger dipped the top of her cookie dough ball in large flake sea salt, you might consider giving that a try. I thought it sounded really interesting. Though I think her cookies were a chocolate cookie with caramel chips
An Alton Brown classic: how to make toll house cookies three different ways.