I bought some Heath Milk Choc Toffee Bits & there is a recipe on the back for Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies. It calls for 1/2 c shortening. I'm wondering why it calls for shortening instead of butter. There is no butter in the recipe.

A number of cookies don't have butter. My Snickerdoodles don't have butter.

I have a Nestle Toll House cookbook and there is a choc chip cookie that is exactly their Toll House recipe except it uses baking powder instead of baking soda and it uses shortening (well, vegetable oil) instead of butter. These cookies stay soft and puffy (not thin, flat and crisp). We like them MUCH better.

As you can see from the above recipe deviations, the combination of baking powder and shortening is exactly what is also used to make biscuits ..... those pastries that bake "soft and high and puffy and soft"!


Butter/margarine causes cookies to spread ...... shortening causes them to rise. So there can be a reason for the difference.

Butter will change the texture of the cookie; it will be thinnner and more crisp.

Butter, Margarine or Shortening for Cookies:

http://www.ochef.com/960.htm

Secrets to Soft Cookies:

http://www.ochef.com/28.htm

Baking Better Cookies Through Chemistry:

http://foodsafety.wisc.edu/consumer/food_facts_archive/foodfacts_2001/foodfacts_april_2001.htm

Role of Ingredients in Cookie Recipes:

http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20011129cookies1129fnp1.asp

Cookie Help Chart:

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/ah_dining_entertaining/article/0,1801,HGTV_3112_1398287,00.html

Cookies 101 - Help Tips:
(From Sarah Phillips of baking911.com.)

http://tinyurl.com/2ycl8m

More detailed Cookie Trouble Shooting Chart:
(From Sarah Phillips of baking911.com.)

http://tinyurl.com/2fk7k2

HTH

JanH, you are the information guru! It's like having our own personal encyclopedia! I luv your posts!

Thank you so much for all of your info!

Oh gosh, thanks Debi.

One thing just kind of led to another.....

Just out of curiosity, I went thru my "Biggest Book of Cookies" recipe book. Out of 475 recipes, 58 of them have no butter.