Butter or margarine for softer cookies?

Question

Butter or Margarine?
What to use for cookies that will be soft and be soft longer?

Answer 1

Using margarine or shortening will result in a less flat, less crisp cookie, allthough you're sacrificing flavor.
When you use butter, make sure its not rock hard, but not too soft. You don't want the butter to melt into or absorb the flour before it bakes.
You can substitute half the butter with shortening or margarine (make sure it's cool).
I think the trick is using less sugar and or replacing some of the granulated sugar with brown sugar which has more moisture and keeps cookies softer.
If you over-stir your cookie batter, it will also result in a tougher cookie.
After cookies are baked, store them in an airtight container with a slice of bread.

Answer 2

Butter, definitely makes for a better tasting cookie.
If your recipe calls for white and brown sugar, increase the amount of brown sugar & decrease the white to get a moister, softer cookie. Keeping your cookies in an airtight container or zipper bag will help them stay soft longer. The typical cookie jar does not seal up well enough.

What are you baking? Sometimes a teaspoon or two of milk or cream can be safely added to the recipe for additional moisture.

Answer 3

either. But you can melt the butter or margarine and cook the cookies on 25 degrees lower heat than usual and they will normally turn out soft and chewy.

Answer 4

Butter is definitely superior to margarine for cookie baking. Whether you are looking for soft or flaky or crunchy cookies nothing can compare to the real thing.

Answer 5

The easiest way to get soft cookies is simply to whip whatever fat and sugars your using until the fat/sugar mix becomes light and fluffy like a frosting! Try it and you'll be amazed that the same recipe that makes flat crunchy cookies with instead make soft chewy cookies simply by making this simple change in technique!

Answer 6

The trick to soft cookies.....when you remove cookie sheet from oven....immediately tap cookie sheet on counter 3 or 4 times...this causes the air to escape from the cookies....thus giving you a softer cookie.....as the cookie cools with the air trapped inside.....it causes a more brittle cookie
Also....excellent recipe for soft cookies
Cake mix cookies

use any flavor cake mix....yellow or white for sugar cookies
pour dry mix into bowl....stir in 1/2 c vegetable oil and 2 eggs.....drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.....bake 8 minutes at 325 or until bare browned.....remove
for peanut butter.....add 1 cup peanut butter to white or yellow mix along with oil and eggs

Answer 7

Butter for softer cookies. Margarine for axle grease.

Answer 8

Always use butter with a grade of "AA". Butter is actually better for you than margarine. Now if you are looking for a great cookie recipe that evreybody loves, try snickerdoodles. You can get a recipe here.

Answer 9

I have used both and it really doesn't matter. What matters is the type of recipe you are using. There are cookies in Recipezaar that actually are for chewy cookies and they do come out chewy.

Answer 10

Butter, always butter, never margarine in the baked goods.....