Shortening vs. butter in cookies

[snowangel]

Many of the recipes I have from my grandmother call for "oleo" (shortening) instead of butter.

These are recipes that have eggs and leavening, not shortbready type recipes.

Do we suppose this is a holdover from the days of rationing during the war years, or is there another reason?

[nibor]

I see that in my grandma-era recipes too. No idea why. Yuk. My mom is dead so I can't ask her.

[alanamoana]

shortening does behave differently in baked goods. sometimes, the texture you get with shortening really is very different than butter (no water in shortening)...so while some people poo-poo shortening, you have to see if changing it to butter affects the recipe balance positively or negatively. sometimes it is very subjective

[SuzySushi]

Actually, "oleo" was the name for margarine ("oleomargarine") in the 1940s or so. Indeed, recipes may have called for it because of war rationing.

Shortening was often referred to in recipes by its brand name -- Crisco was the one my grandmother used!

Edited December 10, 2007 by SuzySushi (log)

[maggiethecat]

Shortening for sure changes the texture in cookies. I learned the hard way not to sub butter for shortening in an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe my mother made often when I was a kid. With butter, they weren't soft and chewy, they were brittle and crunchy. (Tasted fine, but it wasn't the same.)

Butter makes for better taste and a melting, sometimes sandy texture. I use it in every cookie recipe except the one noted above. And I agree, oleo is probably short for oleomargarine, which is is a whole 'nother fat.

[helenjp]

Since it's somebody else's cookies I'd be ruining, I'd be tempted to try subbing half lard/half butter. Or half margarine or shortening plus half butter, of course.

I wonder if those older margarine products had a lower water content than we see now? In Japan, I sometimes see a "cake margarine" for baking, which includes animal fats, and also has a higher solid/fat content than regular margarine - and I think that regular table margarine has more and more water in it these days to make it appear light, and to make it more spreadable.

[snowangel]

The thing about the two recipes is that following the word "oleo" was (crisco).

Hmmm. Makes we wonder how different butter, oleo (meaning margarine) and Crisco perform. Sure wish I was more of a baker.

[K8memphis]

The thing about the two recipes is that following the word "oleo" was (crisco).

Hmmm.  Makes we wonder how different butter, oleo (meaning margarine) and Crisco perform.  Sure wish I was more of a baker.

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I used to bake with margarine (oleo) a lot--worked great. But then when all these spreads came out I stopped using it because they do not perform at all well. I used to keep my eye on one real margarine that still worked great. If memory serves, it was Blue Bonnet which I don't know if they even make it any more.

Shortening in a cookie, holds the cookie better, it has better support than butter does--and it adds no flavor--I mean it is a neutral flavor that can be dressed up. Like Alana said, there's no water in shortening like there is in butter. However, now with the non trans fat shortening it is softer and doesn't hold as well as trans fat shortening.

[i just want to throw up my hands and scream! I mean the devil is in the details in baking anyway and they go and eff up all the ingredients. grr]

But also like Maggie said, some cookie recipes are just not the same if you switch the shortening for butter. Most cookies do well with butter but not all.

Oleo is indeed margarine.

I'm encouraged that rational people can discuss shortening as a viable ingredient without poo pooing it.

Random factoid, Mom told me they used to include a little packet of the yellow coloring with the white margarine and they had to mix it in to make the margarine yellow. Interesting huh.

[JTravel]

Random factoid, Mom told me they used to include a little packet of the yellow coloring with the white margarine and they had to mix it in to make the margarine yellow. Interesting huh.

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True indeed. I can remember "coloring" the "oleo" just a few times. Kids loved the job. As I understand it it was the "butter lobby" that kept the oleo white (and so, un-butter like) so people would not be confused by the new product.

[baroness]

Random factoid, Mom told me they used to include a little packet of the yellow coloring with the white margarine and they had to mix it in to make the margarine yellow. Interesting huh.

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  True indeed.  I can remember "coloring" the "oleo"  just a few times.  Kids loved the job.  As I understand it it was the "butter lobby"  that kept the oleo white (and so, un-butter like) so people would not be confused by the new product.

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That was true in Minnesota when I was tiny; my Mom hated mixing the coloring into the oleo. It was required for my Dad's low-cholesterol regime. Sometimes we got 'contraband' colored margarine from Wisconsin.

Certain cookies need the structure provided by shortening/Crisco; I have many great recipes that utilize it along with butter. I figure most everything is okay in moderation.

[rooftop1000]

Most of the recipes in my Betty Crocker Cooky Book say Shortning (Part Butter or Margarine)

I used butter for everything

T

[Just loafing]

The reason for white margarine was a protection for the dairy industry which didn't want margarine masquerading as butter. When colored margarine did become available (without using those nasty do-it-yourself color jobbies), it had to be a golden color, again unbutter-like.

[BarbaraY]

I, too, remember the mixing of the little packet of coloring that came with the nasty looking white margarine. I don't remember Mom ever mixing the powder completely so we always had streaky "butter".

I believe it was Durkee that came out with margarine in a plastic bag that had a small capsule in it. Just pop the capsule and knead the bag until the color was even. Great fun for the kids and no mess.

That said, there are some cookies that I use Crisco in. Peanut butter cookies just don't seem right made with butter because the texture is wrong. I also have an old recipe for mincemeat cookies that sprawl if made with butter.

I no longer use margarine in anything. Can't bear that fake butter flavoring.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

When I'm baking for the whole family, I have no choice but to use margarine or shortening. Darned milk allergy.

I've made reasonably good chocolate chip cookies using margarine. I've found that it's easier to make a chewy choco chip cookie using margarine than it is with butter.

[fooey]

Lovely trans fat cookies...

NOT.

Use butter, not chemicals.

[K8memphis]

Lovely trans fat cookies...

NOT.

Use butter, not chemicals.

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Bullshit. Sugar is at least as bad for us as trans fats and is not only much more widely accepted it is also in thousands more products. Shortening is an ingredient. Most ingredients contain lots of things including chemicals. Salt is a friggin chemical.

[fooey]

Well, then, by all means, keep eating it, eat lots.

Bullshit. Sugar is at least as bad for us as trans fats and is not only much more widely accepted it is also in thousands more products. Shortening is an ingredient. Most ingredients contain lots of things including chemicals. Salt is a friggin chemical.

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[Pam R]

There are trans-fat free margarines and shortenings. Anybody with allergies or dietary restrictions often uses them because there are no other options. The fact is butter is not always an option.

I do a lot of baking with non-hydrogenated margarine in place of butter. It works well. I'm not saying they work in every application, but it does work in many.

[gfron1]

This topic was started to learn about the differences/purposes of butter and shortening in cookies. If someone wants to start a topic on the health issues/concerns, or ethical issues, etc, I would encourage them to do so. Thanks.

[fooey]

No, this thread has nothing to do with the differences/purposes of butter and shortening in cookies.

The original question was: "Many of the recipes I have from my grandmother call for "oleo" (shortening) instead of butter. These are recipes that have eggs and leavening, not shortbready type recipes. Do we suppose this is a holdover from the days of rationing during the war years, or is there another reason?"

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Wikipedia has some information on oleo here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margarine

Select quotes, with 4. and 5. providing some some insight.

1. Recipes sometimes refer to margarine as oleo or as shortening.

2. French chemist Hippolyte Mège-Mouriés invented a substance he called oleomargarine, the name of which became shortened to the trade name "Margarine". Margarine now refers generically to any of a range of broadly similar edible oils. The name oleomargarine is sometimes abbreviated to oleo.

3. Manufacturers produced oleomargarine by taking clarified vegetable fat, extracting the liquid portion under pressure, and then allowing it to solidify. When combined with butyrin and water, it made a cheap and more-or-less palatable butter-substitute.

4. With the coming of World War I, margarine consumption increased enormously, even in unscathed regions like the United States. In the countries closest to the fighting, dairy products became almost unobtainable and were strictly rationed.

5. Margarine became the staple spread, and butter a rare and expensive luxury.

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This sounds similar to the original poster's suggestion: butter was less available during the great wars of the 20th century. Oleo/margarine/shortening increased in popularity in butter's absence. When the war ended, butter returned to the market, but by now, the cheaper oleo/margarine alternative had had years to establish itself as a valuable and less costly alternative to butter, a price advantage that insured its continued success.

I am not a butter historian, however, so take that opinion as you will. The history around this sounds interesting, and the political maneuveurings of the butter (political) lobby sounds like it tried to limit margarine/oleo popularity, but failed.

The 1950s was the age of the wonder kitchen, a time when industrial products, gadgets, and solutions were welcomed and, more often than not, deemed superior to their more natural cousins.

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It usually comes down to market forces, cost, basically.

The reason butter is as expensive as it is is because there's less demand. The reason there's less demand is because of the competition's cost-pressure from those awful, but much cheaper margarine/oleo/shortening products.

Personally, I welcome a shortening/oleo/margarine "rapture". If all of these chemically-enhanced products disappeared overnight, I would be one happy baker.

I would never have to look as those underbaked, shortening-laden, chemically-leavened, machine-rolled puffs of dough Costco dares call a croissant.

This topic was started to learn about the differences/purposes of butter and shortening in cookies.  If someone wants to start a topic on the health issues/concerns, or ethical issues, etc, I would encourage them to do so.  Thanks.

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