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I have a recipe for cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, and the crust recipe calls for melted margarine. I'd like to make the recipe without hydrogenated oils/trans fats.

I have butter and a non-hydrogenated oil shortening (palm oil). Can I substitute one of these for the margarine in the crust recipe? If not, is there something else that would be a good substitute for margarine here?

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3 Answers 3

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Use the butter; historically margarine is a simulated butter in the first place, and you will probably get a better product, since butter tastes much better.

You could use the shortening, but it will not help the flavor at all, and doesn't have the approximately 18% water that butter and margarine do, although this usually doesn't matter in a graham cracker crust.

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I would just use the butter myself, and if you are going to use butter, use good quality butter. It will make your crust taste 10x better for sure.

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  • Downvote!? I guess who ever did has not used REAL butter to cook with before.
    – lazoDev
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 21:05
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    It's probably because you recommended a specific brand, which just feels really spammy. I suspect you don't actually work for them, you just like their butter, but still - the question wasn't about brands, so it's out of place here. I'm going to replace it with a more general recommendation. If you don't like this, you can roll back my edit. I'm also removing the nutrition-ish part, which is off topic here.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Commented Mar 7, 2014 at 21:06
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    I could see where that would be spammy. Sorry about that. It is just some great stuff. Everything I have used for it has been better just because it is real butter. I will not be so brand spacific next time :) to OP though, you should really give it a shot.
    – lazoDev
    Commented Mar 10, 2014 at 12:56
  • @IazoDev Here in Wisconsin, America's Dairyland, we have no problem finding real butter.
    – Ben Miller
    Commented Mar 12, 2014 at 2:54
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I think you can exchange it with marscapone cheese at room temperature

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  • Hello Rencia, welcome to the site. Have you tested your recommendation? If yes, please state so. I, personally, have some doubts whether mascarpone would remain stable when baked.
    – Stephie ♦
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 13:30
  • Hello Rencia. This space is reserved for answers only. I assumed that you are putting forth mascarpone as a suggestion to use to solve the problem, and in this case, it needs no question marks. If you intended to ask if a mascarpone is a good substitute, this is an entirely different question. Please use the "Ask question" button, or this link: cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/ask, to ask whether mascarpone works well in graham crusts.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 13:44
  • Marscapone cheese instead of margerine will not make the biscuit base set...
    – Doug
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 18:38

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