Can I use margarine???

[BirdyBaker]

I have a question about Buttery Farm Biscuits. Do you think the recipe would turn out if I used margarine in place of the butter. And, if so, how would the taste of the biscuits be affected. It's just that I do not have any margarine on hand right now but I would run out to get butter if the recipe would not work without it. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

[Molly53]

BirdyBaker wrote:
I have a question about Buttery Farm Biscuits. Do you think the recipe would turn out if I used margarine in place of the butter. And, if so, how would the taste of the biscuits be affected. It's just that I do not have any margarine on hand right now but I would run out to get butter if the recipe would not work without it. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

It'll be fine as long as you don't use spread or tub product. Margarine sticks are fine.

[Pot Scrubber]

margarine has salt in it... so omit the salt the recipe calls for.

[BirdyBaker]

Molly53 wrote:

BirdyBaker wrote:
I have a question about Buttery Farm Biscuits. Do you think the recipe would turn out if I used margarine in place of the butter. And, if so, how would the taste of the biscuits be affected. It's just that I do not have any margarine on hand right now but I would run out to get butter if the recipe would not work without it. Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!!!

It'll be fine as long as you don't use spread or tub product. Margarine sticks are fine.

Really? Why would the tub margarine have a different affect than the stick margarine? Or is it just for measuring purposes? Just curious...

[Felix4067]

Tub margarine has a LOT more water (or oil) content, to make it more spreadable. It's not good for baking.

I used some in the peanut butter cookie recipe my family has used for 40 years, and they came out flat and crispy instead of thick and chewy, and I had to freeze the dough before I could get it firm enough to form balls.

[Inge 1505]

Unless it is some butter-flavored margarine, it will definitely change the flavor. In this recipe butter is a main flavor.
It will bake quite nicely with margarine sticks though, just taste different.

[Zurie]

Years ago when I was a food editor I really did a lot of testing of recipes. The conclusion was irrefutable: when it comes to baking, nothing touches the results of high-quality butter.

I also had my doubts then about margarine, as it is a highly processed product. Some years later my worries about magarine as so-called "healthful" was borne out by medical studies: it's bad for us and contains trans-fatty acids, etc.

Okay, yes, they've improved it with spreadable margarines since.

But for baking you have to use hard margarine, as the spreadables contain too much water. My argument is this: butter is normally (from reputable sources) a totally natural product which has been used for centuries. As long as one doesn't overdo it, butter won't harm anyone who eats a healthy diet.

Use BUTTER!

Oh, by the way, here in South Africa as no doubt also in the USA we get perfectly nice butter-plus-sunflower oil spreads, which is preferable to pure butter when it comes to spreadability in cold weather. Also nice for a blob on cooked veggies. (This is just by-the-way chat! )