There's this movie called The Last Holiday. It stars Queen Latifah and LL Cool J. In it, Queen Latifah goes on this vacation of a lifetime at this resort in the Czech Republic and befriends the hotel chef (played by Gerard Depardieu.) During one scene, she and the chef are in the kitchen, working on dinner, and Depardieu turns to Queen Latifah and says, "You and I, we know the secret to life. It's butter."
Butter has no equal and no substitute. For years, people have tried to recreate it, to create the perfect vegan substitute, and in all those years, the best mankind has been able to produce is margarine. And while many people view margarine to be perfectly fine on toast, when it comes right down to it, there's just no substitute for what the cow gives us. (Although, full disclaimer: you can make butter from any mammal.) Butter is - literally - la crème de la crème.
Beast once asked me if I could make shortbread with margarine, as we were out of butter at the time. Now, I love my husband dearly, but some times, you just have to shake your head. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR BUTTER. If the recipe calls for butter, use it.
Ingredient List
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is well blended and creamy. Slowly add the flour, beating on low speed, until everything is well combined. The dough should be quite thick and somewhat crumbly at this point. Turn the dough out onto wax paper and shape it into a ball before transferring it to a well greased 8*8 baking pan. Press it into the pan, spreading it evenly across. Using either a toothpick or a fork, prick the dough generously all over. Form an interesting design with the holes if you like. (There are people who sell patterned plates that allow you to make flowers and castles and all sorts of designs on top of your dough. I just use a fork.)
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into bite size squares while it still warm.
Bon appetite!
Tags: shortbread, butter, vegetarian
Butter has no equal and no substitute. For years, people have tried to recreate it, to create the perfect vegan substitute, and in all those years, the best mankind has been able to produce is margarine. And while many people view margarine to be perfectly fine on toast, when it comes right down to it, there's just no substitute for what the cow gives us. (Although, full disclaimer: you can make butter from any mammal.) Butter is - literally - la crème de la crème.
Beast once asked me if I could make shortbread with margarine, as we were out of butter at the time. Now, I love my husband dearly, but some times, you just have to shake your head. THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR BUTTER. If the recipe calls for butter, use it.
Ingredient List
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
Beat the butter and sugar together until the mixture is well blended and creamy. Slowly add the flour, beating on low speed, until everything is well combined. The dough should be quite thick and somewhat crumbly at this point. Turn the dough out onto wax paper and shape it into a ball before transferring it to a well greased 8*8 baking pan. Press it into the pan, spreading it evenly across. Using either a toothpick or a fork, prick the dough generously all over. Form an interesting design with the holes if you like. (There are people who sell patterned plates that allow you to make flowers and castles and all sorts of designs on top of your dough. I just use a fork.)
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into bite size squares while it still warm.
Bon appetite!
Tags: shortbread, butter, vegetarian