Thanks for this helpful research! I was well aware that refrigerating my cookie dough resulted in less spreading but had no idea that's why some batches were browning and didn't put two and two together. I like the less spread and paler color for chocolate chips - guess I'm not going to get that. I will also pay attention to the flavor now. I must be gulping my cookies, as I hadn't noticed. I tend to follow recipe suggestions for refrigerating as I suspected the end results were changed subtly - I figured that the flour absorbed more liquid or flavors melded. Now I see that there is much more going on. As always, I can count on the King Arthur bakers to set me straight!

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