stir fryi, Check in the FAQ. There's a piece on measuring that I did for the bread tutorial. There are many variables to your flour...type of flour (should choose a brand & stick with it); atmospheric conditions (humid/arid); & how we each measure can & does vary significantly. Personally, I can't be bothered with weighing the flour or even leveling off the measuring cup with a knife. So, I've used my method of scooping & banging the cup against the side of the canister then weighing enough to learn what MY cup of flour weighs. Yours will be different. But, yes...measuring differences can ruin a recipe. It's why I hate to give out baking recipes. When they fail, people say it's a bad recipe...not necessarily so...just different ways of measuring give very different results. After you've made a recipe several times you can more accurately use Linda's technique of guaging the dough's moisture content. But, with a new to you recipe that's a risky technique for all but the most experienced bakers. Also, if you want consistency in your baking learning what YOUR one cup of flour actually weighs will go a long way towards getting you to that consistency. Glad to hear you've figured out what's happening with your CCCs. Nothing worse than to have bad CCCs! Man needs CCCs to live & prosper! :) /tricia

Thanks...good idea. For future use, I'll also try freezing some cookies and some dough to see if it will work.

I don't like making cookie dough in the food processor. If it is a pastry type cookie, I will cut the butter/shortening with the dry ingredients - but then I will move to a bowl and mix in the wet ingredients by hand. I do like using my Kitchen Aid - I "pulse" the beater so that the dough isn't over worked. Just a few rotations, scrape the bowl and beater down and a couple more rotations - and so on until the dough comes together. With sugar cookies - I cream the butter and eggs, add about half the flour and leavening and mix well (but don't over work) - then I gently "pulse" in the rest of the flour.... And since I roll them out - I make sure I don't add any additional flour. I chill the dough, then roll out on a lightly floured board.

I agree. The first to go would be the butter and the fat in the nuts going rancid. How long can you keep butter? Being mixed up it probably wouldn't last as long as a block of butter, but if it's airtight it should last at least a week, probably longer. Because you don't know what bacteria might be in it just from mixing and packing, it's important not to sample it raw. Bake it up when you can, and freeze the extra cookies if you can find the space.