I’m gearing up for holiday baking this weekend and have some old family recipes that use shortening, which I don’t have right now. If I substitute butter, are there any considerations or adjustments I should make? I’ll be making basic cookies like peanut butter and Hershey’s Kiss cookies—nothing too fancy.
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No worries, you can use butter instead of shortening in your old cookie recipes! Simply use the same amount of butter as shortening specified in the recipe. Because butter contains a small amount of water, the cookies may be chewier, which is ideal for peanut butter and Hershey Kiss cookies. The butter may also cause the cookies to spread somewhat more, which is normal for most drop cookies. If you’re worried about the dough spreading, chill it for 30 minutes before baking. Most significantly, butter provides a delightful buttery flavour that shortening lacks! So go ahead and bake with butter; your cookies will be delicious!
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Yes, butter’s a good substitute for shortening. You still have to take certain precautions though.
Like the ratio, for example, I think using half a cup of butter for what would have been 1 cup of shortening. Also, since butter is 20% water you should also be careful about how you regulate other ingredients
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It really varies depending on the situation or recipe. When it comes to baked goods, if I use butter instead of shortening, it usually “works,” but it might affect the overall quality of the final product.
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Butter contains about 80% fat and 20% water while shortening is 100% fat with no water content. This means that when using butter, you may need to slightly reduce the amount of other liquids in the recipe, as the extra water from the butter could make the dough too sticky. I’d recommend starting by reducing any other liquids by about 2 tablespoons per cup of butter used. You can then adjust the consistency as needed. Additionally, the lower melting point of butter compared to shortening may cause your cookies to spread a bit more during baking, resulting in a crisper texture around the edges. To help control the spread, you could try chilling the dough before baking. Lastly, the rich, dairy flavor of butter will come through more than the neutral taste of shortening, which some may prefer for these simple cookie recipes.
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