Cookie question about oil or butter

15 years ago

I have some recipes for a Jewish cookie (a biscotti kind of bar) called mandel bread. Some of them call for using oil and others call for using butter. My late mom has one that uses both! The recipes are pretty much the same except for the butter/oil difference.

Does the use of one shortening versus the other make the texture of the finished cookie different? These are made by baking a long log of dough and then, while hot, cutting the log crosswise, rolling the biscotti like cookies in cinnamon with sugar, and putting them back in the oven to dry out.

Thanks for your advice.

Mary

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Comments (6)

kitch22
15 years ago
Mary,
This is from the desserts page of my website:
The best flavor is achieved with butter. Shortening produces a softer, thicker, chewier cookie. Cookies made with butter spread out more in the oven. Using half shortening (butter flavored would be best) and half butter gives you the best of both worlds.Never use reduced fat margarine or any spread. The spreads have air whipped into them.
Hope that helps a little. I've never made biscotti.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cher's Kitchen
happygram
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks Kitch22.

I think I wasn't clear enough in phrasing my question. I was interested in know the difference between OIL versus BUTTER in cookie texture. (Please excuse the capital letters--I don't know how to underline in this message box.)

So...to rephrase my question...

I've some recipes that are pretty much the same except that some use only OIL and some use only BUTTER. What would be the difference between the ones make with oil only and the ones made with butter only?

Thanks again.

Mary
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At the risk of being tagged a "troll", here's my two cents on this old thread. I've had an empty box of Jules Destrooper's Almond Thins on my computer desk for several months to remind me to look again to see if anyone has developed a recipe and put it online. (I tried it a couple of times myself at first but the results were, well, disappointing.) I found this thread on today's Google search. I don't know anything about Trader Joe's similar cookies, as we don't have that supermarket chain in the New Orleans area, but the list of ingredients in the Destrooper butter almond cookie is clearly different from the "Destrooper" recipe linked above at Yahoo! Answers: INGREDIENTS: WHEAT FLOUR, BROWN SUGAR, BUTTER, ALMONDS, SALT. (Listed in that order.) Of note: no egg, no vanilla. The only sources of moisture in the genuine Destrooper's are the brown sugar and the butter and I'm guessing I could try a dozen more times before I figured out the proportions and baking technique that would work. (I'm an OK cook but not that much of a baker.) Perhaps "WHEAT FLOUR" is how folks in Belgium refer to "whole wheat flour" but I'm not thinking this is the critical difference, at least vis-a-vis Destrooper's (versus Trader Joe's). I'm thinking that adding egg and vanilla and omitting the molasses flavor of the brown sugar would tend to make a very different cookie, regardless of the proportions of other ingredients and the baking technique. I'll let you know if I ever figure it out...
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That's essentially the recipe my mother used all the time. They're great. She always used shortening. Nice and crumbly. My sister mixes butter and shortening. I usually use the butter flavored shortening. Also she never added the salt. Peanut butter generally has enough salt and if you use salted butter, that too has salt in it but use if you like. A suggestion to speed things up, just grab a bunch of the dough and roll it in your hands into a log shape about 1"-1 1/2" or however big you want them, then break off the pieces and set in the pan. Take the fork and go at them. My mother's recipe said to dip the fork in flour but I usually touch the fork to the dough then dip it in sugar. As you're breaking off pieces, usually 2-3 in the pan and one in the mouth. Love that peanut butter cookie dough!
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kitch22
15 years ago
Sorry about that, Mary. I guess the word shortening threw me off.
lindac
15 years ago
I think the main difference is taste.....butter and oil yield very similar results in my experience.
For Mandelbrot it's usual to use oil to avoid the meat dairy conundrum.
Linda C
khandi
15 years ago
From Baking 911

Each type of fat used in cookie recipes separately affects the cookie's texture and taste. Generally, the use of butter means a flatter, crispier cookies because it allows the dough to spread as it cooks on the hot cookie sheet.

Cookies made with shortening will not spread, however all shortening will give you a cookie without a lot of taste.

This approach gives you the best of both worlds: shortening is not as sensitive to shifts in temperature and the butter gives a lot of flavor.

Shortening: Least spread / Least flavor, however can use butter flavored. Because of its higher melting point (98 to 100 degrees F) than butter, cookies keep their shape as it bakes, yielding a puffier more cake-like treat.

Stick Butter: Medium spread / Best flavor. Because of the lower the melting point of butter (92 to 98 degrees F) than shortening, cookies spread and become flatter and crispier as the result. To help reduce cookie spread when using butter, freeze the formed dough on the cookie sheets. When you place the frozen cookie dough immediately in the oven, the fat will stay colder longer and when baked, the cookie will retain its shape better. For flavor, there is no substitute for butter. Cookies made with butter have outstanding taste and a finely grained, often crisp texture. Butter also helps cookies to keep well and maintain their flavor. I recommend using unsalted butter in baking.

Stick Margarine: Most spread / Some flavor

Vegetable oils: cookies are softer than those made with butter or margarine.
lindac
15 years ago
However I make a very crisp ginger snap with oil....the softness of the cookie is all in the baking....and the total amount of fat.
Linda C

Cookie question about oil or butter

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Cookie question about oil or butter

Comments (6)

kitch22

happygramOriginal Author

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lindac

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happygram
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