Have you ever thought about using margarine in a cookie recipe? Considered using that stuff in the tub to substitute for actual creamy dreamy butter? Don't. After a cookie fiasco this weekend, I finally realize and accept that substitution is NOT always a good idea.
Where do I begin? There was nothing in the house, we had ingredients for those delicious wafer cookies, and I was in the mood to bake and create. However, we did not have butter. I'm talking actual sticks or tubs of butter. Not Country Crock, not I Can't Believe it's Not Butter, but ACTUAL BUTTER. There is a reason why recipes call for it. When the er....not butter melts, it turns into oil. That's all it is and if you've ever melted that stuff in the microwave or on the stove, that's all you get. Difference? Butter has salt, margarine is sorta like melted fat. Butter also has milk, while margarine is basically a processed product with refined oils and vitamins. Some margarines have dairy in them, most do not. Butter also has the savory, sweet flavor required for certain recipes. While it's cheaper than butter, most margarine products don't have the weight of butter. When they melt, it's basically like putting vegetable oil into a cookie recipe. So when you go to bake it, what happens?
When I substitute butter with margarine, sometimes the cookies are much flatter than they're supposed to be. They don't even taste the same. They taste oily, light, and, fluffy. The batter doesn't even mix the same like it would with butter. With Country Crock (the brand I used for the disaster recipe), it was light and airy. It wasn't necessarily creamy with the sugar. With ICBNB, sometimes recipes turn out just fine because there's dairy in that spread. With butter, they taste creamy, thick, and have a weight to them. They do not fall apart. When a recipe calls for butter, use butter. You might just end up with a messy tray of flat cookies if you don't use the right ingredients. This article brings up a lot of good points about the differences between butter and margarine.
Trust me, as much as I love my spreads and prefer not to use butter, there's just no substitute sometimes. If I find a good spread that trumps butter and doesn't mess with the recipe, I will gladly retract the statement and sing its praises. 'Til then, this is something I know better than to try again. I hate wasting ingredients to make botched products!
Where do I begin? There was nothing in the house, we had ingredients for those delicious wafer cookies, and I was in the mood to bake and create. However, we did not have butter. I'm talking actual sticks or tubs of butter. Not Country Crock, not I Can't Believe it's Not Butter, but ACTUAL BUTTER. There is a reason why recipes call for it. When the er....not butter melts, it turns into oil. That's all it is and if you've ever melted that stuff in the microwave or on the stove, that's all you get. Difference? Butter has salt, margarine is sorta like melted fat. Butter also has milk, while margarine is basically a processed product with refined oils and vitamins. Some margarines have dairy in them, most do not. Butter also has the savory, sweet flavor required for certain recipes. While it's cheaper than butter, most margarine products don't have the weight of butter. When they melt, it's basically like putting vegetable oil into a cookie recipe. So when you go to bake it, what happens?
When I substitute butter with margarine, sometimes the cookies are much flatter than they're supposed to be. They don't even taste the same. They taste oily, light, and, fluffy. The batter doesn't even mix the same like it would with butter. With Country Crock (the brand I used for the disaster recipe), it was light and airy. It wasn't necessarily creamy with the sugar. With ICBNB, sometimes recipes turn out just fine because there's dairy in that spread. With butter, they taste creamy, thick, and have a weight to them. They do not fall apart. When a recipe calls for butter, use butter. You might just end up with a messy tray of flat cookies if you don't use the right ingredients. This article brings up a lot of good points about the differences between butter and margarine.
Trust me, as much as I love my spreads and prefer not to use butter, there's just no substitute sometimes. If I find a good spread that trumps butter and doesn't mess with the recipe, I will gladly retract the statement and sing its praises. 'Til then, this is something I know better than to try again. I hate wasting ingredients to make botched products!