How much salt to add to unsalted butter?

16 years ago

I'm making a cookie recipe that calls for a 3/4 stick of butter. It is an old recipe (before unsalted butter was readily available). I'd like to save a trip to the store and use what I have on hand, if possible.

Does anyone know how much salt I should add to make up for using unsalted butter?

Thanks,

-Babka

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Comments (5)

Terri_PacNW
16 years ago
what other ingredients are in it..
If it's chocolate, I'd go with atleast 1/2 t even 3/4 t..I standardly add 1 t to 1 c butter..even if it's salted in recipes using chocolate in any form.
Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author
16 years ago
Terry-

Thanks for the quick response. The recipe is for Pecan Crescents. 50 years ago it was on the Argo cornstarch box. So you think 3/4 tsp. salt will do the trick?

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 stick butter
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Sift, blend (knead with hands), chill and shape into little crescents. Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Dust with powdered sugar when cool.

-Babka
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Don't get into the salt/caramel thing either. Do pour a pile of salt on the plate and dip the radishes in it tho, used to occasionally sprinkle a little salt on top of a celery stick. The recipes I got from my mother were from way back when there was no unsalted butter available so the recipe said "butter" it was no choice but salted butter and usually there was something like a quarter tsp of salt so no big deal. The extra grain or two of salt in a cookie would not be discernible, especially in peanut butter cookies! I didn't start using unsalted butter until probably 15 or 20 years ago. It was not common at the time either. The only time I noticed an issue was when I made some mud bars and I had goofed the first time I made them so the icing turned out to be thick, rich fudge. So good, I kept doing it that way and everyone loved it. But I made some and it was SO salty even I had trouble eating it (and this comes from a person who at the time still put salt on ham!). Amount of salt was tiny so my guess was it had to be the butter, hence the switch to unsalted and usually buy it ever since unless I'm buying soft butter. Don't see an unsalted version of the soft stuff.
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Terri_PacNW
16 years ago
yeah...start with that then taste...you don't want it to taste salty..but you want the flavors to pop..I find salt helps that out immensely..
I use sea salt, and find that it's got a bit more power than iodine(table salt)..

hmmm I don't want to steer you wrong..but I always add the salt called for in cookie recipes, even though I use salted butter.
~I just found something online that said if you use salted butter in a recipe that calls for unsalted and has salt that you should reduce the salt addition by 1/4 t ea 1/2 c of butter. So maybe you should go with 1/2 t salt??
Personally I'd go with 3/4 t but I don't know your salty taste tolerance..probably best to err on the side of "little less"..
Good luck!!! sorry to confuse you more probably..LOL
readinglady
16 years ago
The average for a cube of butter is 1/4 tsp. per 1/4 pound, though some brands are much saltier than that (as high as 3/4 tsp., which I find mind-boggling).

As Terri said, go by taste, though my inclination, especially for a delicate cooke, is to be conservative. You want the butter, sugar and pecan to predominate.

Carol
Fori
16 years ago
Good thing it's egg free--I'd taste it! That looks kinda good.

(OK, I'd taste it even with raw eggs...)

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How much salt to add to unsalted butter?

Comments (5)

Terri_PacNW

Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author

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How much salt to add to unsalted butter?

Comments (5)

Terri_PacNW

Babka NorCal 9bOriginal Author

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readinglady

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Babka NorCal 9b
Original Author