Hi Everyone,

I've been following this discussion, too, and don't know the answer... But I seem to remember a discussion on this board a couple of months back about the different effects of butter vs. shortening.

I've also noticed that different brands of butter have different water contents, and salted butter has more moisture than unsalted (sweet) butter. The brown sugar point is a good one: brown sugar tends to pick up humidity, too.

Another possibility: I just got a copy of "Sweet Miniatures," a baking book by Flo Braker. She found out by accident that when over-creaming the butter and sugar for a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough (the phone rang and she left the electric mixer on when she answered it), the cookies turned out soft and puffy.

Another thought is how are the cookies cooled? On racks? For how long? Are they completely cool before being stored?

What kind of storage container are you using? Flo Braker says that airtight metal containers keep cookies crisp, while plastic ones are better for moist or chewy cookies.

Hope some of these ideas help solve the mystery!

Susan, Hawaii