Can I Substitute Margarine For Butter In the Baking
You can use butter instead of margarine oil. But if you are making a certain recipe that calls for margarine oil then you should use it for good flavor. It is not recommended to substitute it in that case. Substituting it in baking may cause a change of flavor.
The results from substituting margarine for butter in your glazes will vary depending on what kind of margarine you use. When margarine is used in place of butter for a baked good, the results may vary greatly from the expected results. In most baking recipes in which butter is not a major ingredient, margarine should work well as a substitute. Since so many people are using margarine in place of butter, it is helpful to know what recipes will work fine with this substitute.
If you are a fan of margarine, or you have no butter handy, this post explains why you can use margarine in place of butter easily when making cookies. With this in mind, many people have been wondering whether or not they can just use their margarine in place of butter in cookies, and the answer is YES.
Which means that now we have an entire generation of wrinkled, torn, stained, and yellowed family recipe cards for baked goods–you know, the good ones–that say to use margarine instead of butter. Because of that, baked goods made with margarine (unless a recipe specifically calls for it) end up with softer doughs and spread-out doughs that are overly puffy (like cookies) and that can burn faster. If you choose to replace margarine with butter in your baking recipes, cookies, etc., will brown more quickly. Expect when using butter in place of margarine, cookies to become thinner because of over-spread, and they will be crinklier than normal.
If your chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for one cup butter, you may want to substitute it for a cup margarine. If you would like to swap out one cup of margarine for 1 cup of butter, you can use either one cup shortening or 1 cup shortening plus 14 teaspoons of salt. If you are short on butter, you can use margarine sticks or another type of oil to stir into the flour to make a roux.
| Margarine | Butter |
| Butter | Unsweetened apple sauce |
| Cream cheese | Margarine |
| Apple sauce | Shortening |
With normal salty butter, you might need to add a dash of salt if swapping out for margarine. Basically, if the recipe calls for butter, the best option is generally to use butter all the time, unless the recipe specifically says that margarine can be substituted. If the recipe calls for butter and additional water, but you are going to use margarine, then it might not require extra water. Use the exact same amount of margarine that you would with butter, just watch out because margarine is drier than butter, so you might have to cut back on how much liquid is added to the recipe.
On paper, margarine contains a lot more ingredients than butter, which usually only contains cream, sometimes with added salt. Because margarine does not have as much fat as butter, brownies will be lighter and less dense. As a result, cookies made with margarine can be flatter and thinner than those made with butter.
If you are short on butter, or you are a food restricted person, margarine is a great option for your baking needs. Now that you have got the basics down, feel comfortable using margarine instead of butter.
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Using butter in place of margarine is the easiest, most idiot-proof way to make sure that your baked goods are as close to similar as possible. Where butter is a major ingredient in the recipe, such as in puff pastry, pie crusts, shortbread cookies, and spritz cookies, these types of recipes need a certain ratio of fat and moisture in order to be successful, which is why butter should never be substituted for margarine.
Recipes that call for cold, solid butter, like pie crusts or laminated doughs, generally do not work as well when substituted with softer margarine. If your recipe calls for softened butter rather than melted, then you may not get the best texture. Baking recipes that call for melted butter can be worked with melted margarine, but with recipes calling for softened butter, substituting canned margarine can change texture; for instance, cakes will be less tender, while cookies tend to spread more. Any recipes that call for butter creamed with sugar will not work as well with butter, mostly because oil will not let sugar caramelize as well as butter.
For making caramel, you are better off using highly saturated oils such as coconut or palm oil, as you would use butter. Highly saturated oils, along with oil from the whip, generally make suitable substitutes for butter in all kinds of pastries, fudge, and no-bake cookies. This is not to say oils cannot be used in biscuit or cake recipes, but the results will be drastically different than the traditional products made with soy-based margarine, shortening, or other semi-solid fat.
Most recipes suggest using butter in a stir-fry or roasting vegetables, and you can use oil in soups the same way that you would use butter. You can use any type of fat or oil, such as butter, margarine, cooking fat, or olive oil, to cook the meat in the soup.
You can substitute in an unsweetened apple sauce for part or all of the butter or oil in a recipe for bread or flavored muffins. For baked goods, you can also use equal amounts of unsweetened shortening, such as Crisco, or oil. You can easily substitute margarine for butter in veggie dishes, since the butter is used in the flavoring.
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A good rule of thumb is to treat margarine as an oil: You can substitute it best with melted butter. When combined with butter, the hydrogenated oils in margarine produce a lighter texture than butter alone cannot. Margarine does not contain carotene naturally, so colorants or carotene are added to give the margarine more of a buttery appearance (otherwise, it is white, just like shorten). Just remember, butter has a lower melting point than margarine, so it is going to be liquid regardless of which type you use.
Tubular margarine has high water content, and is usually whipped up so that it is easy to spread, making it a nice replacement for butter in baking recipes. Tub margarine can be easily replaced with butter on a tabletop to be spread, and some use it on a stovetop to bake, although in those cases, we generally prefer using butter instead of margarine. Margarine is usually made by combining refined plant oils with water, and heating it up it loses a bit of water in steam, so using margarine may result in thinner rather than puffier baked goods.
If you are not too worried about making cookies that are a little healthier, then using margarine sticks will give cookies a proper consistency and taste, which is a lot like butter. Keep in mind, using it is a major trade-off you are making, as obviously, you are not going to have the same texture of cookies when the butter is missing.
What happens if you use margarine instead of butter?
Melted margarine may work in baking recipes that make use of melted butter. However, substituting tub margarine in place of it of softened butter may result in different textures; for instance, cakes may be less firm, and cookies will often spread thus, resulting in it to be less crunchy.
What is the difference between butter and margarine in baking?
Margarine has lower saturated fat and higher moisture content than butter, allowing your baked goods to be softer when cold. Because of this, cakes and cookies will be less tender and generally spread out more than the crispier goods baked using butter.
Is it better to use butter or margarine in cakes?
Butter is a better alternative than margarine for baking cakes, cookies, and pastries; compared to margarine, unsalted butter provides an enriched flavor due to its creamy texture. The high-fat content in butter is also what helps give baked goods their smooth and crispy texture.