VeggieBoards banner

Vegetable shortening?

4K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  ksfc 
#1 ·
I am trying to be vegan and finding it hard to do some baking because it's really expensive to get vegan margerine in New Zealand. I am wondering several different things:

1) Do you think you could use vegetable shortening instead of vegan margarine?

2) Does anyone know any good vegan recipes that require vegetable shortening or that don't require vegan margerine? (Like chocolate crackles! They are delicious!).

3) Are there any major health risks involved in using vegetable shortening in your diet?

Thank you in advance for any help!
 
#2 ·
many times you can use straight up oil instead of marg.

i would think that shortening would be fine for many recipes.... you may end up w/ a bit different consistency, but i think that might really only be noticable in things like cookies.

some veggie shortening has trans fats in it...check the label. like crisco, has "0 grams trans fats"...but that is PER SERVING, so it does have some in the portion that you'd be realistically using in a recipe.

http://www.recipezaar.com/147033 (oatmeal chip nut cookies)

http://theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/...p?RecipeID=111 (chewy choc chip cookies)
 
#3 ·
about your "chocolate crackles"..is this a thin, wafery type cookie?

b/c i think shortening makes cookies more light and chewy, rather than crispy. i recently made a cookie only using oil, according to a recipe, and they turned out to be inedibly crispy....but if they were thin enough, they may have been ok.

or, i may have been an idiot and cooked em too long! lol. whoopsie.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for responding. My vegan cookies normally turn out crispy as well!

Chocolate crackles aren't a type of cookie- they are more like a slice I guess, but you make them in the shape of cupcakes and muffins! (Sounds healthy- not
)
 
#5 ·
If you can get trans fat free shortening you can use it in a lot of baking recipes but they'll come out more crisp than baked goods with margarine. You can also use a canola oil. I wouldn't try to spread it on bread or anything though. It'd be gross.
 
#6 ·
If you can find it, coconut oil is wonderful to use in place of shortening. There will be a texture difference between shorteneing and margerine because almost all vargerines have some water whipped into them. Shortening will make them more crisp because it's pure fat.

Coconut oil is not hydrogenated, has no trans fats and is a wonderful shortening/margerine substitute for baked goods!
 
#7 ·
Hi

Most of the time I just replace any fat with applesauce (the little Wattie's baby food tins are great) or mashed banana, depending on how the recipe will stand up to the power of banana flavour!

Olivani, Basics Table Spread and one other standard spreads are vegan. The Signature Range stuff, I think, at Foodtown/Woolworths. From memory, all of the others contain milk products (milk solids, butter, etc).

www.vegweb.com has an amazing recipes section. And as I said, often the margarine can be replaced with applesauce/banana for a healthier version, or if you want the rich taste, plain vegetable oil.

The trans fats (hydrogenated, partially hydrogenated) are a whole level of bad over and above pure fats/oils, which certainly aren't great.

Good luck.
 
#8 ·
Thanks guys! The coconut oil is a great idea... I had not thought of it!

Hi KSFC- another kiwi? Yay! Yes, I have been searching for vegan margarines and I know that most of them are not, but there is a new brand out at foodtown called 'Rice Bran Oil' it comes in a silver tub, and it is vegan. It costs about $8 though for a small tub, so I don't really want to be baking with this. I'll give the coconut oil a go, and i have been doing a lot of baking with bananas and this has worked well so far- so I will try being more adventurous with this and with applesauce.

Thanks for the tips!
 
#10 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wednesday_12 View Post

Hi KSFC- another kiwi? Yay! Yes, I have been searching for vegan margarines and I know that most of them are not, but there is a new brand out at foodtown called 'Rice Bran Oil' it comes in a silver tub, and it is vegan. It costs about $8 though for a small tub, so I don't really want to be baking with this. I'll give the coconut oil a go, and i have been doing a lot of baking with bananas and this has worked well so far- so I will try being more adventurous with this and with applesauce.

Thanks for the tips!
Is that Rice Bran spread vegan? I remember that I heard an ad for it on the radio and got all excited (I use the liquid rice bran oil) but then when I saw it at Foodtown it has milk powder or whey or some other dairy product. I was annoyed as the ad made it sound like it was dairy free. But maybe they've changed the formulation since I last looked? Anyway, Olivani (NOT Olivio, which has milk) is vegan and nice to eat, although hardly healthy, ahem. :)

I'm in Auckland... :) Isn't it hot?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top