WHAT ARE YOU EATING, dinner time! Options

[Jim]

Butter is not a substitute for oil.

[Epic]

butter can serve a similar purpose as oil in a lot of recipes, but it isn't technically a substitute. i've made cakes that call for butter instead of oil.

[Mommy]

Every cake recipe I have ever made calls for both butter and oil. Oil adds moistness. You are right, though, about eggs fluffing it up. They didn't rise as much as I wanted them to so I could probably add another egg to help with that. I still think that oil or applesauce would help moisten them up a bit. I think applesauce would work just fine since it works in cakes. You can't even taste the applesauce.

[Spectatrix]

Jessica, do you mean both melted butter and oil? Or solid/softened butter? They act a little differently. I don't think I personally have made a recipe calling for both melted butter and oil, but I could be mistaken.

Melted butter/margarine and vegetable oil are not *exactly* interchangeable (due to differences in taste and consistency), but you can indeed substitute one for the other in many baking recipes. More to the point, they serve the same primary purpose: adding moisture. So when you see a recipe like this one, that has melted butter in it, it's not "missing vegetable oil"... it's just using a different form of fat for moisture.

See http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/substitutions.cfm for example.

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Jul 10 2008, 08:42 AM

[Mommy]

Well, I would imagine that vegetable oil would add more moisture than butter. Plus, in my experience, butter thickens things, just like it thickened the consistency of the batter. Oil would thin it out to be closer to the consistency of cake batter. I mean, the end result could be the same when I pull them out of the oven, but it's a lot easier to poor batter into baking cups than it is to spoon it in. I was having to spoon in the batter. I think adding an egg and a 1/3 cup of oil would thin the batter out, and add the extra moistness and fluffiness that I desire.

Should I try again doing this? I mean, I don't know what I'm gonna do with all these muffins but it sure would be entertaining. haha

[Mommy]

Jessica, do you mean both melted butter and oil? Or solid/softened butter? They act a little differently. I don't think I personally have made a recipe calling for both melted butter and oil, but I could be mistaken.

Melted butter/margarine and vegetable oil are not *exactly* interchangeable (due to differences in taste and consistency), but you can indeed substitute one for the other in many baking recipes. More to the point, they serve the same primary purpose: adding moisture. So when you see a recipe like this one, that has melted butter in it, it's not "missing vegetable oil"... it's just using a different form of fat for moisture.

See http://www.landolakes.com/mealideas/substitutions.cfm for example.

Softened butter for cake recipes, but it doesn't matter. When I added the melted butter to the batter yesterday, it got clumpy again because the milk and eggs were cold. It started to reform. It was like chunky and I had to stir it to smooth it out.

[Spectatrix]

Butter is a little thicker than oil, yeah, but it should still thin out the batter... I dunno, I usually use melted margarine, which is closer to veggie oil than melted butter.

Adding more oil to your recipe would make the muffins moister, but probably denser as well (think like the difference between fudgey brownies and cake-like brownies).

You might try reading through the comments on the recipe here: http://www.recipezaar.com/9326 It's the same recipe you posted, just on a different site. Someone in there might have hit upon the same problem you did and come up with a solution.

Of course, now you know I'm gonna have to make this recipe myself and see how my results are!

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Jul 10 2008, 08:52 AM

[impala454]

lard or shortening is the ticket

[Mommy]

Ya I read the comments on the other site when I had the problem and some were saying vegetable oil. I think an egg and oil would do the trick. The egg would balance out the dense problem.

[Spectatrix]

Mmm, lard. Tasty!

Ya I read the comments on the other site when I had the problem and some were saying vegetable oil. I think an egg and oil would do the trick. The egg would balance out the dense problem.

Well, give it a try and let us now how it turned out!

[Mommy]

haha I think I will... Some of my eggs are cracked though, and I also wanted to make a cake so it's either the muffins or a cake.... oooo or snickerdoodles. lol. I love to bake.

[Mommy]

Well, apparently I have never had a real muffin until yesterday lol. I was reading the reviews on that site, Christine, and people were like "thank god these didn't have the typical consistency of cake batter. These are the good ol' fashioned muffins." *shrug* I just ate one for breakfast. Like I said, very yummy... just very thick. Also, people were commenting on whether they used semi-sweet or regular chocolate chips and some were complaining they weren't sweet enough. I used semi-sweet and am glad I did. I don't like overly sweet stuff for breakfast. Also, others were saying they halfed the amount of chocolate chips. I left it the same. I used a whole bag. It turned out fine in my opinion.

[impala454]

Mmm, lard. Tasty!

hey don't knock it, you'd be surprised how much of a difference it or shortening makes in a baked recipe. I made an apple pie from scratch a while back and that crust came out awesome

[Epic]

btw, are you going to eat the placenta?

[Mommy]

btw, are you going to eat the placenta?

Umm no. I'm not a damn freak like that. I hear some cultures do that... gross.

Speaking of weird cultural things, I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who is married, has kids, and works in a doctor's office as an x-ray technician. She said that one time this little boy about 5 years old came in with a broken arm. His grandmother who was a gypsy or some shit was with him. The little boy was crying so the gypsy woman unzipped his pants and started sucking on his penis to stop his crying. Apparently it's some cultural thing? When my friend told me this, though, I wanted to vomit. I think that is so wrong and inappropriate. Has anyone else ever heard of something like this?

And by the way, this is how you derail a thread.... haha