Becca wrote:

Good question. I was taught that melted butter would make your cookies
tough.


Tough or chewy? I consider them the same thing, and I like chewy. I'm
trying to avoid cakey in a cookie (though it's a good thing in a cake).


Butter should be left outside of the fridge, and it is ready to
use, when the stick of butter starts to bend when you picked it up on
one end.

I usually remember to take the butter out ahead of time. There's a good
tip on the webpage Dimitri recommended. It said that if you forget to
take the butter out of the freezer, don't microwave it. Grate it. Then
cream the butter and the sugar. That's if you're creaming, of course.
(Why is it impossible to talk about ordinary kitchen procedures without
sounding obscene?) I'm interested in melting. (There I go again.)


This could be all wrong, so I am looking forward to reading the
responses.


I'm pleased with all the responses too, but it's coming down to
someone's having to try it, and that someone looks like it's going to be me.


--Lia