Shortening Substitute in Sugar Cookies?

Question

I'm making sugar cookies, and the recipe calls for butter AND shortening (which I don't have). Can I substitute anything else (eg. more butter, olive oil, canola oil, etc)?

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You can use all butter, but the cookies will be drier. If you have margarine, you can use that as a substitute for the shortening. The oils may work, but the cookie won't taste the same. Good luck!

Answer 2

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. We went to great lengths to develop a snickerdoodle cookie that used butter instead of shortening. Check out our Snickerdoodle Cookie Mix. These are the only snickerdoodles that we have found that do not call for shortening.

Answer 3

Substitute butter and a tiny bit of canola oil

Answer 4

I'd go with more butter then. They won't turn out exactly the same as with they would with the shortening, but they'll still be darn tasty! And, if you've never made that recipe before then nobody will know the difference! LOL

Answer 5

1 cup shortening: 1/2 unsalted butter and 1/2 vegetable shortening

I have used just butter but it does not come out as tender. However I prefer the taste.

Answer 6

I always use butter. The cookies have a deeper color and taste better. A lot of folks like me can't have shortening or any animal based grease, so I have learned to sub.

Answer 7

Fruits have seeds; "vegetable" is a non-scientific word for expanded edibles

Answer 8

I've used applesauce.