Cooking Stack Exchange
Cooking Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [butter]

A dairy product made by churning milk to separate the butterfat from other milk components. Questions may involve butter either as an ingredient or as a final dish.

This tag is for both questions about using butter in cooking and about making butter.

328 questions
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Can I always use butter instead of margarine when baking?

Some recipes says use butter or margarine, some say use butter and some say use margarine. My question is, can I always use butter or does margarine have some property that butter doesn't when baking?
johnny
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How does butter remain edible for so long without refrigeration?

My wife and I keep a stick of butter in the cupboard rather than the refrigerator. Even with just the two of us, it rarely lasts very long, but I'd say it may go as long as a week without refrigeration before it's all gone. There have been times…
raven
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5 answers

Substituting butter for oil: Does it matter for baked goods?

When a recipe (like for muffins) calls for vegetable oil, does it matter if I substitute the oil for butter because I want that buttery taste in the muffins? Do I need to compensate for the difference by adding/subtracting the amount of butter…
zachary
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1 answer

Why is there a difference between softened and melted butter when baking?

I once tried to make some cookies and assumed that melted butter would be the same as softened butter. It didn't work out... Why does it make a difference if you use softened or melted butter? Seems like it all ends up the same if you beat it…
Brh
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1 answer

Making butter at home

I decided to make home made butter. I haven’t done this since I was a kid. We shook the jar until the liquid separated. I wasn’t sure if this meant it was done or not even though I kept reading the instructions over and over. Now I have a cream that…
Amanda
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2 answers

When baking a cake that calls for butter, should you use salted or unsalted?

I'm baking a cake using a cake mix and extra ingredients. It calls for 5 tbsp of butter, but I'm not sure which to use, salted or unsalted. What difference would it make??
user4053
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3 answers

Why do you need raw milk to make butter?

I was reading about making butter at home and all the recipes called for raw (I presume this means unpasteurised) milk. Why is this? They also said to wait for the cream to separate from the milk. I've never seen this happen - is there something…
Brendan
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3 answers

What is the purpose of oil or butter in bread?

Specifically in wheat and potato breads, what is the purpose of adding oil or butter to the dough? I have always assumed it was just for flavor, but I suspect there is some background chemical reasons for adding it.
Gabriel Fair
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Is it safe to eat butter after it has crossed its expiration date? Does butter ever spoil in fridge?

I just came back from a long trip and I was cleaning out my fridge, and I noticed that there is an expiration date on the butter. It expired about two months from when I bought it. The butter doesn't look any different than normal butter. How…
Babak
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5 answers

How much is a knob of butter?

I was reading a question here on Food and Cooking and no one seemed to know how much it is. I tried to Google convert it to cups but no dice. So how much is it?
QueueHammer
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3 answers

Use Avocado instead of Butter to bake a cake?

This may sound extravagant, but I have tried a very nice chocolate pudding made of avocado, chocolate, and some other ingredients. You could not tell there was avocado in the pudding and the texture was just perfect! So I was wondering if avocado…
mhttk
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6 answers

How can I break an emulsion making carotene butter?

I am making carotene butter by mixing clarified butter and carrot juice. The idea is that I now need to separate the carotene infused butter from the juice. The only problem being that they are very well emulsified together. I tried blending it more…
JS Lavertu
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13 answers

Butter substitute for 1 cup of butter for baking

What can I substitute for 1 cup of butter in baking recipes (e.g. cookies, muffins, cakes, etc.)? I'm looking for something that has less saturated fat (and also doesn't have trans fat). Update: Since baking is less forgiving than cooking (i.e. if…
Senseful
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Can ghee be used instead of butter in dessert recipes?

Butter is an inevitable ingredient in most of dessert recipes. By definition, ghee is just clarified butter, but to me, the taste is completely different. The taste of butter is more close to heavy cream, while that of ghee is more close to cooking…
Googlebot
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Do I need clarified butter to make mac-n-cheese?

Ok, someone mentioned Mac-n-Cheese. Which led me to a mornay sauce. Which requires a bechamel. Leading to roux. Dropping me on the doorstep of clarified butter. I haven't ever used or made it. Is there a reasonable way to make it? Can I make a…
Rob
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