In our recipes, “room temperature” refers to butter that is still cool enough to hold its shape, but can easily be cut with a butter knife. “Softened” butter means butter that is soft enough to be whipped, but not yet melted.
Unless otherwise indicated, all-purpose flour refers to bleached flour, although in most cases you can substitute unbleached flour. In recipes that specifically call for unbleached flour, do not substitute bleached.
Unless otherwise specified, an “egg” refers to a large egg.
We define a soft dough as one that is very sticky; the typical chocolate chip cookie recipe is a good example. A stiff dough is one that holds in a ball and cleans the sides of the mixer bowl. A medium dough falls somewhere between; it is not overly sticky, but is not firm enough to clean the bowl. A crumbly dough doesn’t hold together in a ball, but is scattered in pieces. Cookies such as shortbread usually fall into this category.
Chopped nuts refers to nuts in fairly small pieces; say between 1/8 and 1/4 inch. Coarsely chopped is closer to 1/4 inch. Finely chopped is one step above ground.
The yield given for each cookie is, of course, just an average. You may get a slightly larger or smaller yield, depending on how you size the cookies.
We include tips and variations to alert you to anything special you need to know about this cookie, or how to vary it to suit your taste.
We also suggest the best way to store each cookie. An airtight container refers to a tightly sealed canister, cookie tin, or similar container. A covered container would be a cookie jar or other container that keeps air directly off the cookies, but is not airtight. Filled or sticky cookies often call for being stored loosely wrapped on a plate. This keeps them from turning into a gooey mess.
We’ve also included advice on whether a cookie should be mailed or not. A “no” means the cookie is too fragile, too soft or sticky, or is likely to go stale quickly.
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