1. Baking

2. Which fat should you use? Fat choice is really a personal preference. Some prefer the “all natural” aspect of butter, others the inexpensive nature of margarine or shortening.

3. Butter ●Butter adds rich flavor, tenderizes and adds flakiness ●From an animal source, it has cholesterol and saturated fat.

4. Margarine ●To use margarine instead of butter or shortening, make sure it is at least 80 vegetable oil (100 calories/T) or it will contain too much water and spread too much ●Different margarines will give different flavors.

5. Shortening ●Shortening is oil which has been hydrogenated to make it solid at room temperature. ●Shortening creates a higher rise than butter or margarine and less spread.

7. What is softened butter? ●The best way to “soften butter” is to leave it at room temperature for 30 to 60 minutes. ●Cutting into chunks can shorten the time to 15 minutes. ●Alternately you can beat between pieces of wax paper with a rolling pin or beat with the paddle on a stand up mixer and let sit for 15 minutes.

8. Do not use the microwave to soften! Even a little bit of microwaving will heat the butter too much so the sugar will dissolve and will not become light and fluffy when the butter and sugar are creamed together. The cookies will be flatter.

9. Any advice on pans? Use light colored, shiny pans without sides made with heavy gauge aluminum. The surface on nonstick pans doesn’t allow the cookies to spread as much, creating thicker, less crispy cookies.