Substitute for Crisco Shortening ???

[vnploveschickens]

Hi Everybody,

There are a couple of cookie recipes that use Crisco and I'd like to substitute for something healthier. I thought this might be a good place to ask.
Thank you in advance.

Val

 

[bargain]

I use butter ....real goat butter we make...... I suppose real butter would work as well....

 

[Sallyschickens]

Organic, pasture-fed cow butter...so good for you! (Goat butter too, if you can find it.)

OR

Lard! (It is the "new" old health food! http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food )


But don't get the hydrogenated lard.
The one-pound brick of lard in my corner bodega was hydrogenated, as was the 40-ounce tub my favorite butcher carries, along with nearly all the commercial lard available in this country. During hydrogenation, fat molecules are pelted by hydrogen until their chemical structures change. Hydrogenation can make liquid fats solid at room temperature (that's how we get Crisco) and gives lard extra stability so it won't go rancid as quickly. Unfortunately, hydrogenation is also the source of unwholesome trans fats, which shoot extra LDL cholesterol (the bad kind) into your arteries while batting away the other, good cholesterol. If I wanted the freshest, purest, most nutritious lard available, I'd have to make it myself.

 

[Buck Creek Chickens]

I use butter and home rendered Lard, the home made lard is healthier the the purchased stuff. and you can get it at you local butcher

 

[HEChicken]

After reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", I stopped using shortening or margarine and now use only butter - turns out its much better for you!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

you can get good lard at a mexican grocery.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
I missed that show......what is really IN shortening and margarine?????????? Plastic?

 

[alicefelldown]

Quote:
Margarine being "one molecule away from plastic" (or being in any way related to the manufacture of) is just plain nonsense. Plastics are composed of long molecules called polymers (whose ingredients may include polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, acrylic, silicone, and urethane), while margarine is an emulsion of naturally processed vegetable oil, water, salt, vitamins, and other functional ingredients that ensure the safety and quality of the finished product. Emulsions consist of two or more ingredients that naturally do not remain blended or “in suspension”; and need added ingredients to keep them together; think of it like oil and water. Other types of emulsified foods that you may eat include deli meats and salad dressings. There is no chemical similarity between the two.

Both butter and margarine contain fats, which are basically groupings of the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. The difference is how those atoms are bonded together. (Naturally occurring fatty acids generally have one "cis" orientation, meaning both hydrogen atoms are on the same side as the carbon atoms. Trans-fatty acids, logically, have a "trans" orientation, meaning that at least one hydrogen atom is opposite the carbons. Essentially, the molecules making up both butter and margarine contain the same atoms, just in different configurations. Margarine has much more in common chemically with butter than it does plastic.

In any case, being "one molecule away" is a totally meaningless expression. Many items in nature are chemically similar to one another, but that doesn't make them similar in appearance or effect. It's not the molecules that a substance is made of that defines it, but rather how those molecules are arranged. I suppose one might say that hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, is one atom away from water, H2O, but even this is meaningless. That extra oxygen atom changes the properties of the substance dramatically. Stick your finger into a bottle of pure hydrogen peroxide and you will quickly experience the effect of that extra oxygen.

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Quote:
http://www.preparedpantry.com/printable2.html
Can I Substitute Butter for Shortening?

Speaking of substitutes, the question came up this week, “Can I substitute butter for shortening in my cookie recipes?”

The answer is a qualified “yes”. We have substituted butter in many of our recipes and believe butter makes a tastier, healthier cookie. (Shortening and margarine are made with hydrogenated fat and most of us would like to reduce hydrogenated fat in our diets.)

Your cookies will turn out a little differently if you substitute butter for shortening. Shortening makes a cookie that is crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle. Butter makes a cookie crisper throughout. Because of the moisture in butter, cookies made with butter tend to spread more during baking.

If you need to, you can counteract some of the spread and crispness in the butter cookie with the addition of an extra egg. Whole eggs or egg yolks give cookies a cake-like texture. So try your favorite recipe with butter instead of shortening and bake a few of the cookies. If they turn out too crisp or too flat, add an egg and try again.

 

[silkiechicken]

Quote:
+1

It all comes down to how you can use it. You can consume 20 grams of artificial protein in let's say your protein shake... but if they are all in the wrong chirality, all 20 grams will go right out the other side. If half are in the L form, and half in the D form, you'll only get to utilize 10 grams of the total "protein" in the mix.

 

[Carolyn252]

I do not know if this will work for cookie recipes or not, but for all of my CAKE recipes, I always substitute jam for the shortening. Same amount; that is, whatever amount of shortening is called for, I use that same amount of jam. I've used strawberry jam, grape jam, prune jam, and apple jam. It's always delicious; moist, tender, and excellent texture. Don't have to alter the baking time or anything.