Hi, I'm not sure if you can answer this. Sue wrote asking if European butter would 'up the fat content' of the cookie. Whoa! Different butters have different fat contents? Where I live in Europe, the butter is marked 82% butterfat. I don't remember even seeing such a note on butter in the US (maybe I wasn't looking). So what's the fat content of US butter? I've been cooking with US recipes and European ingredients for years, and never realized the butter is different. Vanilla - yes. You only seem to be able to get vanilla bean and a chemical solution called 'vanilla essence' over here. I have vanilla sent from home. But what's this about butter? Am I getting different results with US recipes and European butter and I didn't know it? Not vastly different, Nel - don't worry about it. American butter is up to a few percentage points lower in fat, but you have to be making something really fat-intensive (like a piecrust or croissants) to notice the difference. - PJH

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