Another useful substitute for shortening is (non-hydrogenated) coconut oil, and you can often reduce the amount by 20-25-percent and get the same results. I purchase LouAna brand in the cooking oil/shortening section at Wal-Mart and our Kroger affiliated Dillons stores. This particular brand doesn't have any coconut flavor or odor - so is neutral in taste. It is solid like shortening, but as the temperature goes up, it will get soft and start to liquefy at 76-77-degrees F. That's how you know it wasn't hydrogenated. I make a whole wheat angel biscuit recipe and after I roll the dough out I cut the biscuits with a pizza cutter into square biscuits. This method is faster and will prevent "second cuts". That's the dough remaining after you cut round biscuits and you rework it to cut more biscuits. The problem with second cuts is that the dough is over-worked, developing the gluten in the flour even more, and you get tough biscuits from second cuts. Then I place the cut biscuits on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and quick-freeze the biscuits, and store them in the freezer in plastic containers, freezer bag, or vacuum-sealed in a FoodSaver bag. Bake a few in your toaster oven when needed, or larger amounts in your oven - 400-degrees F for 10-12-minutes. -Grainlady

I've tried all of the substitutes and I don't like any of them. The ones combined with water make toast too soggy, so there's a texture thing combined with the flavor. I don't butter vegetables anyway, I like them without, but I have not learned to eat bread or toast plain. So, I've switched to jam on toast most of the time, I make my own low sugar spreads and so can control the sugar and calories that way. Broccoli I like drizzled with a bit of sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds, better than butter. Baked potatoes get topped with homemade yogurt, made with low fat milk. I've learned to just top pancakes with maple or fruit syrup and skip the butter. My family buttered muffins, biscuits, corn on the cob, bread, pancakes, fried mush, oatmeal. Yup, oatmeal. You name it, it got buttered. No wonder Dad had all those heart problems. I still bake with butter, but I've even learned to bake bread without it. If my bread recipe calls for milk, I use skim and it works fine. Canola oil instead of butter, or depending on the bread, olive oil, and the bread still tastes the same. Cream soups get milk, not cream, as do scones. Ganache, though, that needs cream. Good luck, mago, it's definitely a change but you'll get used to it and your taste may even change. You'll pick up an ear of fresh corn and wonder why in the world you covered the wonderful taste with all that butter. Maybe. There are also good recipes at Cooking Light.com, Eating Well.com, EatBetterAmerica .com, HeartHealthyLiving. com. There are more, but these seem to have the recipes that work best for me. I've also started using Clean Living, they are on line but have more recipes in their printed magazine. They are a bit extreme in some of their recipes, but many are good. Annie

Shambo, yes you can sub applesauce or oil or the above things Lou mentioned..you may just get a slightly different texture though..but it will taste fine.

Well, I'd use butter over the oil since oil in there seems to always come out greasy for me, but when it comes to peanut butter cookies, I use shortening. They're crumbly that way. Using butter, they're softer. My sister will often mix butter and shortening.