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I know that the general rule is that you can use half the amount of butter or oil a recipe calls for and replace the other half with applesauce. My question is, can you do this for baked goods that are very butter dependent, such as biscuits? By biscuits I mean American Southern-style biscuits, which are mainly flour, butter, and some type of riser. I was just going to try it and see what happened, but I figured I'd ask the experts before wasting ingredients.

rumtscho
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pocketlizard
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    Last I checked, this "general rule" only applies to cakes/quickbreads. – Catija Nov 24 '16 at 20:32
  • What do you mean by "biscuits"? There are different types even within the same area, and the word means totally different things between British and American English. Best post a recipe. – rumtscho Nov 24 '16 at 20:40
  • Added clarification. I mean typical American South biscuits. – pocketlizard Nov 24 '16 at 20:44
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    As noted by @Catija, this is not a general rule for baking. It only applies to certain things. I don't see it as an option for 'American South' biscuits due to the sugar content. – Cindy Nov 24 '16 at 22:01
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    You could substitute some lard or shortening and get nice biscuits, but with applesauce it would be totally different – Jason B. Nov 25 '16 at 05:01

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Adding butter to biscuits or bread is what allows for that flakiness in the crust and that creamy texture in the bread itself. Lard would give you the same effect -- it's pretty much the saturated fat that makes the biscuit taste so great. Substituting applesauce for the butter won't give you the same results. It will be edible, but it will be more like a quickbread or cake than the biscuits you were hoping for.

JennieK_NS
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