Old Recipes
 

I have notice that the old ones call for Crisco. I do not use that for baking anymore.. Could I substitute butter in those recipes? Today I made a pecan bar and It was in a book my daughter put together. It did not say to grease the pan and that was a mistake. It stuck so bad my HB cut it and use a spatula to get the bars out.I am going to continue tomorrow and make some sugar cookies. I have a recipe that I made when I was 11 yrs old and I had 4 brothers and the writing was still there were I wrote down the measuements how to double.. My HB said they tasted like his grandma made. The book was for children and we did not have mixers then and it would have notes to ask your brother to mix it a few times when you got tired. The book is falling apart and I figured it is 68 yrs old. It sure brings back memories looking at that book. It would not be Christmas if I did not bake some candy and cookies. My friends and my mom love when I give them a can or box.

Here is a link to the King Arthur flour company blog. It is about their take on the differences between butter and shortening.

Also have found that in using old recipes that call for specific ingredients like one can of something, or one box of of something, to be careful because the weight and measurements of those ingredients have changed over the years. For example, an" old" recipe I have calls for an 18 oz box of cake mix ( this is from the 80's). Well, found that all current cake mixes are 15 oz. In my recipe it didn't matter as I was cutting the recipe in half and only needed 9 oz anyway. Threw the rest away.
Good luck with your baking.....still trying to decide if I am going to or not this year and how I would mail them off if I did.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blo...tter-in-baking

Very interesting. In my working days, I my office was near the folks who taught Dietetics. When students in the Experimental Foods class were adjusting recipes to make them more healthy. They did this by reducing or changing fats, calories, sugar, sugar substitutes, different flours and so on I got to see and taste the different comparison foods. Grand differences. The info in the King Arthur article is spot on.

Happy baking, Sewingsuz. I also have a dear little pictured cookbook given to me from my grandmother, about 65 years old but it has some of best recipes. I shall take a peek to see if I should be adjusting recipes for changes in foods and measurements.

I know, some recipes ask for lard and i think-what? I only have olive oil in the house. sigh.

I substitute butter for Crisco now. The only thing I use Crisco for is pie crust. It always comes out nicely.

Thanks Susie, I also will substitute with butter.
Murphy, thanks for the link to get it all fixed in my book.

just did a search...turns out a lot of things can be a substitute for shortening....but....you need to also consider what you are baking or making. Things I found listed are butter, coconut oil, margarine, lard, vegetable oil, applesauce, prunes, bananas. But some of these things work better in some things like vegetable oil does not work as well for things that need to be flaky like pie crust, applesauce works well in cakes. So you need to be aware.

I looooovvve butter...to a fault. I swear it is going to be the death of me. But the thing is about butter is that it has milk solids in it, (casien.) Casien has now been shown in many studies to cause cancer, but that is not my main point. My point is that milk solids are just that...solid, very solid...like in cheese solid. That is why pie crust recipes call for Crisco instead. Milk solids can make the pie crust tough. So if you are using it in a recipe that is for a tender cookie, pastry, etc., it's best to cut it with some other, non-hydrogenated shortening, or eliminate it altogether.

I have a can of Crisco in my freezer...lemme go check to see if it is still hydrogenated...BRB.

OK...here's what is in Crisco:

Soybean Oil, Fully Hydrogenated Palm Oil, Mono and Diglycerides, TBQH, citric acid.

Total Fat: 12g, 15%
Saturated Fat: 3.5g, 16%
Trans Fat: 0
Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g
Monounsaturated Fat: 2.5g
Cholesterol: 0
Sodium: 0
Total Carbohydrates: 0
Protein: 0