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What is the function of butter in shortbread?
The butter will cover the flour particles in the dough. Once the cookie is in the oven, the butter will melt, but the flour will continue to hold its strength, holding the cookie together.
What can I use instead of butter in shortbread?
Cookies and shortbreads traditionally use butter for richness and density but rely less on butter for the lift needed in recipes like cakes. For this reason, cookies are often much easier to make dairy-free. Simply replacing the butter with margarine or vegetable shortening almost always does the trick.
Why is butter used to make shortbread rather than margarine?
Margarine is still a lot trickier to handle when baking. Because it’s so sticky, it’s very difficult to roll out and cut into shapes. For most people, I can see them still choosing butter over margarine for shortbread recipes because there is still a taste difference and butter is much easier to work with.
Why is my shortbread greasy?
There are a variety of reasons why the shortbread could be damp underneath but it is most likely that either the dough is being pressed out too thickly, the pan is not metal so heats up too slowly, or the oven temperature is too high causing the top to brown before the bottom has cooked sufficiently.
Butter cookies are actually better than shortbread cookies! The main difference between the two is the amount of sugar and the baking temperature. Butter cookies have more sugar and bake at a higher temperature than shortbread cookies. They don’t crumble and the dough is extremely versatile.
Why are my shortbread cookies hard?
Dough that has been overworked is a surefire way to get tough shortbread – something no shortbread should ever be. Melted butter will result in tough dough as well, as the flour will absorb it too quickly, and unevenly.
if the shortbread recipe contains too much butter, your shortbread might be crumbly. Butter makes shortbread “short” and the shorter the shortbread, the less structure they have. Why? Because the fat of the butter interferes with gluten formation in the flour.
Can you substitute margarine for butter in shortbread cookies?
Margarine. Margarine is possibly the most-used butter substitute for baking cookies, cakes, doughnuts or just about anything else for that matter. Margarine can be used in the equal amount of butter a recipe calls for.
Should butter be cold for shortbread?
Start with butter that’s refrigerator-cold to prevent the dough from warming up too fast, which would make it greasy and difficult to roll. If the dough does get soft or sticky as you’re rolling or cutting it, just put it in the refrigerator for 10 or 15 minutes to chill the butter.
Are butter cookies shortbread?
Butter cookies are very similar to shortbread, with the main variation being an increase in sugar. In addition to making them taste awesome, the higher ratio of sugar to butter means a butter cookie is cookie-cutter-ready and bakes beautifully without any tendency to crumble.