Greasy Cookies with a previous successful recipe(s)

Upon further reading I am also going to use regular granulated sugar instead of the superfine sugar that I used in the two recipes. I think that may be where I went wrong.

I have had similar problems this year - I used one of my mom's old shortbread recipes, but used higher fat European style butter, and used a spoon to fill my cup of flour, rather than using the dip and sweep method. The dough seemed too soft, but I chilled it anyway. They are thin there was some leakage of butter so they are not pretty although they are delicious

Thanks to all who took the time to reply to my question……Update from puzzled novice baker. I put everything in the freezer for 36 hours. Seems to have resolved the problem at least for Dessert Persons Chicolate Chip Cookie. I’m still struggling with Marion Cunningham’s Joyce’s Lemon Cookie. I might try it again with a different butter and flour.

It's important to understand that ingredients change over the seasons. Cows produce different milk if they are grazing on grass or eating hay (and different cattle breeds produce different milk).

Flour isn't the same all year long. The wheats are different, the humidity changes, the duration since the flour was milled, temperature during transportation and store display, etc.

Also, the white wine zone in your wine cooler is not the same temperature as your conventional food refrigerator.

Remember that the concept of standardized measurements is a concept from the late 19th/early 20th century. Humans have been baking for far longer. While mass-based measurements help tremendously in achieving consistency, baking recipes aren't gospel. You still need to be aware that adjustments may need to be made depending on the conditions.

I have a corn bread recipe that I make all the time, and sometimes it just comes out a little greasy. Very frustrating. Usually when this happens it’s because the ratio of flour to butter is off. The lemon cookie recipe is given in volume, so you’re guessing the weight here, right? I’ve seen the weight of one cup of flour range from 125-140 grams per cup. That’s why it’s tricky to do the conversion without testing it.

The Dessert Person recipe is listed in weight. There’s melted butter and heavy cream, and so it seems that this is a pretty fat heavy recipe to begin with. A slightly heavy hand in those ingredients or light hand in flour can make the cookies greasy.

I’m so sorry this happened to you. I hope the freezer helps. You could also try sitting them on a few layers of paper towels to let some of the excess butter absorb as you would with fried food. Good luck.