Hello!
I have been using butter in all my rcookie recipes as i'm not too sure what shortening is.
Can you tell me the colour of it is please, as we have blocks of vegetable fat which are yellow, and blocks that are white. The yellow stuff contains water and the white stuff does not. We use the yellow blocks mainly for cakes and the white for pastry. The white seems harder that yellow. Do you think either of these sounds like Crisco?
Also as both contain hydrogenated fats which I'm not too seen on using, should i decrease the amount of butter in my cookies? Using all butter seems to make them spread. Although I have found that if I blend the butter and sugar for ages they turn to a semi liquid state and that seems to help with the cookies keeping thier shape. Has anyone used powdered sugar instead of regualar, I read somewhere that that may help too?
TIA
Tania. 
Crisco make white vegetable shortening and Yellow which is a butter flavor.I use the white in every batch of icing I make.From what I understand if you use the Butter flavor Crisco you would eliminate some of the real butter in the recipe but I could be mistaken!!
I'm not sure about which of your shortenings would be most like Crisco... Crisco is white unless you buy the "butter flavored" crisco. Since you are having problems with your cookies spreading (I assume you're doing cut-out cookies?), maybe you should try the No-Fail Sugar Cookie recipe (it is in the recipe section or at kitchengifts.com). It is one that works great for holding it's shape and not spreading out. It doesn't use shortening either. Also, I think baking them on parchment paper seems to help (or a Silpat I heard works well too!). Is your dough chilled enough and your cookie sheets cooled down? I guess if you put your dough on warm cookie sheets it can make them spread more.
I have used a recipe for sugar cookies that called for powdered sugar just to try it (there is one of kitchengifts.com- Michael's pink frosted cookies) and I didn't care for the texture as well as the ones from the No-Fail recipe. They seemed a little....fluffier? more cake-like maybe? They definitely didn't hold the shape any better than the No-Fail. I don't know if any of this info will help, but I thought I'd share what I do know!
http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-6467-crisco.html
That is a link to MissBaritone asking what crisco was.
BritBB says what brands are equivilant to the shortening we use in the US.
I would suggest PM'ing MissBaritone, BritBB, or Tuggy (incase they don't see this thread) As I know they have knowledge of what is availabe in your neck of the woods 
Hope this helps
Leily
You need to use white vegetable fat usually sold under the brand names of Trex or White Flora. It took me a little while to find out
You need to use white vegetable fat usually sold under the brand names of Trex or White Flora. It took me a little while to find out
Crisco, Trex and White Flora are not found everywhere..... they are certainly not here in Australia.
every country is different but as the question came fron taniabanana who lives in England as I do I know what she needs to look for. I certainly wouldn't know what to look for in any country other than my own
well as for getting crisco, or any kind of solid vegetable shortening. It's usually hydrogenated vegetable oils. Which solidifies them. Actually, I think this was invented to make them more like lard or suet. (pork and beef fat respectively). As for vegetable shortening in australia I couldn't tell ya.
Hi Guys
I'm in Australia, can any other ozzies help me out with a shortening product available here. The only thing i've seen is Copha, but that is coconut based. Is this what we use for shortening or is there something else available. I do my buttercream with all butter, but woud like to try the 1/2 / 1/2 recipe.
Thanks
Tash
Hi Guys
I'm in Australia, can any other ozzies help me out with a shortening product available here. The only thing i've seen is Copha, but that is coconut based. Is this what we use for shortening or is there something else available. I do my buttercream with all butter, but woud like to try the 1/2 / 1/2 recipe.
Thanks
Tash
I love when I discover another aussie on here. Yes in the shops copha would be the closest thing to CRISCO and its not very close. I know some people use it but it does give an oily after taste in your mouth, but then again I have heard lots of those in the us complain about this in the crisco product. If this is for home use you can probably stick with the recipe you have, if you want it for something more than that there are a couple of options... Use SOLITE but you can only buy it wholesale, will need and ABN to get it and probably the smallest box you will get is 15kg... this is darn close to crisco but not available to the public. Otherwise you can try a company called CAROLINES SUGAR ART in SA they have a product which I love and use because I just can't get through the 15kg of SOLITE even though we are doing a fair few cakes now. The product with CAROLINES is called CREAM CUP, it comes in 500gram tubs and you just mix it with icing sugar and water..... best part is that it never fails and is the perfect consistency every time... not as nice probably as your butter one as far as taste is concerned but I have had no complaints on it. I am pretty sure that you can get it wholesale or retail prices from them... just check out the site or give them a call. Hope this helps.
Thank You so much dky. I only just found that Carolines sugar art website a few days ago. I will go back and have a closer look at it now and get in contact with them. I might even pay ethem a visit as i'm in sa aswell.
I do love the all butter recipe, but have found that with this terrible heat we've been having, it doesnt hold up too well.
I too love to see an aussie on these boards. Their are so many things which we dont have available in Australia for cake decorating, which America do. I've bought alot of supplies/equipment from Ebay, even things which i could get here but are alot cheaper if bought from OS.
Tash
Hi Guys
I'm in Australia, can any other ozzies help me out with a shortening product available here. The only thing i've seen is Copha, but that is coconut based. Is this what we use for shortening or is there something else available. I do my buttercream with all butter, but woud like to try the 1/2 / 1/2 recipe.
Thanks
Tash
There is a product called Frymaster which is vegetable shortening, similar to Trex from UK. You can get it from Coles. It is stored in the same section as Copha.
If any of you are interested, here is an excellent all shortening recipe for buttercream. It doesn't crust real hard like the wilton recipe. Tastes good.
5c powdered sugar
3/4c shortening
1/2c water
1/3c powdered coffee creamer
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp vanilla
1/2tsp butter flavoring
beat at high for 4-5 minutes
[/quote]
There is a product called Frymaster which is vegetable shortening, similar to Trex from UK. You can get it from Coles. It is stored in the same section as Copha.[/quote]
Thanks for that..I will have another look in coles. I did look but the only white shortening I could see was made with animal fat.
Cheers
Tash
Ingredients is listed simply as 'vegetable fat'. Description on the label says 100% vegetable oil ... suitable for roasting, deep frying, pan frying.
I'm new to buttercream - never made it before. What criteria do you look for when determining if fat is suitable for making buttercream? I have seen some recipes which use butter - what are the advantages of using shortening?
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%