I make these cookies and only use the shortening. I use the "shortening" and not the trans-fat Crisco. My recipe is an old one and I did not like the texture when subbing . There is a "butter" flavoring in the section with vanilla, etc., you could add for taste.

Cisco is best. Butter makes cookies softer, thinner, greasier. CISCO makes a crisper cookie...just ask anyone who has made to house cookies with all butter. Follow the recipe..you will be fine. CISCO is solid vegetable shortening.

Crisco is probably the easiest to find but there are many other brands still out there. the spread of your cookies will be different than using butter. somewhere there is a chart that shows the difference. Margarine has the most spread, then butter, with shortening having the least. as someone else mentioned it has to do with the temp. they melt. Also, you can change the amount of spread with the amount of baking soda you use. Check out King Arthur Flour, they have alot of good tips/explanations for baking issues

they say if you use butter to put dough in the refrig for a little while. I have been doing that to all my cookies lately to see if there is a difference.

I no longer use any oils except olive oil, (EVOO and light for cooking), coconut oil and butter. When I got rid of margarine and any oil that is not from a real food source, (What is a canola anyway?) my cholesterol levels have gone to normal. I do not eat much fried food, so I am no help there.

Instead of using butter or shortening, use coconut oil. It is a lot healthier and I don't taste the difference.

Where I grew up, lard is shortening. I believe the definition is any liquid that becomes semi-solid when cold or chilled.

Real butter only. Margarine full of chemicals our body doesn't even know how to assimilate. Just read another negative article few days ago again on the myth that margarine is better for you than butter for cholesterol reasons. And yes, use coconut oil for pie crusts instead of Crisco. Canola Oil should be boycotted. It is rapeseed oil, and is a machinery oil, again an oil that our bodies do not know how to assimilate, oil for machinery. Also, canola deprives our bodies of Vitamin E. Even saw a bottle in HEB Grocery with other cooking oils that had on label "with Vit E added." Go figure!

Canola oil comes from a plant called rapeseed. It is mostly grown in Canada and since the name of the plant isn't very nice, they changed it to Canola.

Watson

I read that margarine was the only food substance that did not break down in a garbage dump after MANY years (a study). I never knowingly eat it. Threw away my large can of Crisco about 15 years ago!