i am going to be making butter cookies, which by there very nature, are going to spread more than sugar cookies. i know most of the tricks to minimize spread, but i need help on this one question (my memory is going....).

i am going to be making butter cookies and i have two recipes. one calls for regular old granulated sugar and the other for powdered sugar. which sugar will contribute more to spread?

i know when you cream butter and sugar, air pockets are created around the granules and that helps the cookie rise and can contribute to spread if over creamed.

so does smaller particles like PS increase or decrease air pockets/spread?

thanks!
diane

I'm sure i've read somewhere that the bigger the particle of sugar the longer it takes to 'melt' so will cause spreading. However saying that I use fine/caster sugar and cream with butter until it has pretty much lost it's grainy texture and don't have too much problem with spreading. You can also beat the four in for a bit longer too so that the starch starts to work, but that does make for a tougher cookie.
HTH!