My NFSC are majorly spreading! The dough is kept cold in the fridge, the prerolled dough is also kept in the fridge until its time to cut out the shapes so its cold dough going in the oven, but I thought that is what we wanted? Now my cookies look ugly

When my recipes go wonky I put a thermometer in the oven - it's always turned out that the oven wasn't keeping the right temp. HTH.

Sorry you're having a bad cookie day.
Are you following the recipe to a T? Or are you changing it up a bit?

Some follow to a T and do exactly what you are doing and never have spreading.

I make NFSC alot. I cut the baking powder in half. (Some leave it out all together.) And I decrease flour to 5 3/4c.
I chill the dough between baking and never have any problems with spreading.
That is what works for me, maybe you could try it next time. HTH

Sorry you're having a bad cookie baking day. I don't use NFSC but maybe you could try adding a bit more flour to the recipe to avoid the spreading.

Definitely check your oven temp.

I'm a "until it looks right" cook. I rarely follow a recipe "to a T". Age of ingredients, mixing methods, sometimes weather, oven age and style, brand of butter, etc., .... all are factors that can alter the end results in a recipe. Two people can do the exact same things, using the exact same recipe, and get two different results.

HOw "sticky" is your dough, before refrigeration? You should be able to make a dough ball with minimal stickiness to your hands. If it's too wet, i.e. sticky, then there's too much liquid and not enough dry (i.e. flour). If this is the case, just add a little more flour to get it to the right consistency.

I had one of these days a couple of weeks ago, and I was freaking out!

I ended up adding more flour until I got it right. I don't know what the deal was - I'd never had problems with NFSC before, and haven't since. But that day just wasn't a good day for me.

I noticed that my NFSC spread a bit (though not much) depending on the cookie sheet I bake on. When I baked my pineapple and palm tree cookies, the ones that were baked on the "insulated" style sheets spread a little. I usually use a heavy jelly roll pan with a silpat mat and have no issues of spreading.

thanks everyone. I do follow the recipe to a "T" as I really have no kitchen knowledge other then what is written down on a piece of paper in front of my face that I generally look at 50 times before I make the next move!

The dough didn't seem that sticky. I rolled it up in my hands first and then rolled out with my rolling pin till it was smooth.

I don't have an oven thermometer. I will put that on my list for Christmas so unfortunately I can't check that today.

The cookie sheets I am using ARE insulated cookie sheets. I got them for Christmas last year and used them once and never had this problem. Im not sure what the deal is. All my ingredients are still good as well. I had to make a second batch of NFSC just to get the basic amount of cookies I needed. Unfortunately I don't have enough sticks to make extras of any. I guess my brain was not working when I figured out how many packs of sticks I would need!

Oh well. I hope once they are iced and decorated the receivers won't notice.

Do you bake on parchment? I was amazed at what a big difference that made in my cookies! "OH! THAT'S how come the bakery ones look so pretty!"

Off topic, but I've gotta' say that your kitty looks so THRILLED to be in that outfit! That's hysterical. I think my cat would tear me to shreds if I attempted that!!

No, I don't bake on parchment. I never thought of that *again, kitchen challenged *

Ruth, thats our boy Cheddar when he was about 6 months old. He didn't care what we did to him, he had the most laid back personality of any cat I have ever know. Unfortunately he passed away just a few months after his first birthday from cardiomyopathy. (his heart just stopped) I miss him to much to take down the pic anymore

I bake on Silpat and cut the baking powder in half with the NFSC. I also pop them in the freezer after cutting out for about 10 minutes and then bake. No problem with spreading.

you may want to not handle the dough to much, and add little more flour i bake on wilton cookie sheet when things go wrong everything goes wrong we all have those day.

So sad about your kitty. I'm sorry. My cat is 10 years old and weighs 19 pounds. He's been a really good companion. I'll miss him when he's gone, too.

Just another suggestion. Make sure you aren't beating the batter too long. That can also cause spreading.

thanks you guys ... how long is to long to beat the batter? I used to make cookies quite a bit more often then I do now, and it seems nothing is working for me anymore

Ruth, I hope your kitty stays with you for several more years .. they sure do become like family ...

Can anyone tell me if humidity makes much of a difference when baking cookies? Sometimes my cookies spread and sometimes they don't. Never really thought about it being the humidity but now I'm wondering. I definitely don't make fudge on a humid day.