Can you substitute margarine for butter?

[tanya]

I tend to not keep any butter in the fridge cause theres not much space and I only use it for cooking.. However we have loads of that spreadable marg I think I buy "I cant believe it's not butter"

I tried making pancakes with it this morning but they turned into very flat crumpets?!?! Would baking cookies/cakes get a similar result?

 

[miniman]

You need to get a baking or cooking margarine. The spreads are not often that good because they incorporate a lot of water. Over here, a number of margarines have a little tick box on the side saying what they can be used for from spreading, frying and baking.

I usually use Stork or the supermarkets own brand.

 

[Andy M.]

Keep a small amount of butter in the freezer. It will be there whenever you need it and will last for a long time.

 

[Glorie]

Personally, I've never had very good luck substituting margarine for butter. The margarine seems, at least in my baking, to make the batter runny when baked. Maybe it's just me, I don't know...

 

[MexicoKaren]

My theory is this: if you are going to go to the trouble of making something that you hope will taste good, including the sometimes expensive ingredients, you might as well guarantee good results by using butter...the results are never the same, because the two substances have a different chemistry. If you prefer to use margarine everyday, follow Andy's advice and keep butter in the freezer for special recipes.

 

[jabbur]

I sub stick margarine for butter in just about everything but cookies. I use I can't believe its not butter. The spreads do have a lot of water which makes them easy to spread but bad for baking.

 

[texasgirl]

My mom told me before that if it specifically calls for butter, do not use anything else. You will see many many recipes that say butter/margarine and that is because it's been tested with both and received the same results, but, when it calls for butter only can mean that it has not been tried and either they don't know if it will be the same or they have tried it and it will not be ther same.

 

[PieSusan]

^Mom knows best!

 

[PieSusan]

If you look at Alton Brown's Three Chips for Sister Sara you will see how using different ingredients caused his cookies to be either chewy, crispy of cakey. Butter and margarine were one of the variables.