When making cookies, cakes, and pies, palm shortening substitutes make your recipes much more simple and easier. If you’d like to skip the store, use palm shortening substitutes instead! Palm shortening is palm oil with some of the fat removed, which makes it into a semi-solid vegetable oil product.
It’s popular for cooking because it’s not hydrogenated like vegetable shortening and does not contain trans fat. It also has a high smoke point, making it easy to deep fry or grill. The fats in pastry are there for flaky crusts or breads.
Palm shortening is palm oil with some of the fat removed, which makes it into a semi-solid vegetable oil product. It is popular for cooking, but it’s important to use palm shortening instead of vegetable shortening in order to avoid trans fats.
It also has a very high smoke point, which makes it useful for deep frying and grilling. It helps make flaky bread and crusts possible when added to pastry or baked foods.
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Palm Shortening Substitutes
Unfortunately, palm oil has picked up a bad reputation for harmful industrial environmental practices, and it’s not always easy to find in grocery stores. If you’re looking for an alternative, however, there are a few good options such as coconut oil, butter, margarine, and lard among others.
Palms have been in the cooking world for centuries. Not only is palm shortening one of the few plant-based options, but it’s very environmentally friendly.
However, in recent times, some people have had negative experiences with palm oil because of its use for harmful industrial environmental practices.
Coconut Oil
In terms of health, coconut oil is a healthy alternative to palm shortening. It has lots of antioxidants and MCTs, which are considered “good” fats. On the other hand, it may clash or compliment your pie filling. This is something to think about when you’re making pie crust, as the resulting dough flavor may clash with or complement your pie filling.
You can use coconut oil to replace palm shortening, as it provides lots of antioxidants and “good” fats. However, if you want to make a pie crust, you may want to consider that the dough will still taste like coconut because of the cooking method used.
Butter
Butter is a good substitute for palm oil shortening if you’re specifically avoiding dairy. It adds rich flavor to any recipe, but does come with some caloric cost. However, if you are making the crust, keep in mind that butter crust won’t be as flaky as a shortening crust and will brown more deeply.
Butter is a good replacement for palm oil shortening when you want to maintain your dietary preferences. If you’re making a recipe that calls for shortening, keep in mind that butter crust won’t be as flaky or crisp as one made with shortening.
Margarine
Margarine, typically made of vegetable oil, can be a useful cooking and baking ingredient. However, it is often made from palm oil, which means you’ll have to use more or add in vegetable oil to make up for the missing fat. If you don’t add more fat or vegetable oil, your baked goods may not turn out well.
Margarine is a non-dairy spread that can often be made up mostly of vegetable oil. There may even be palm oil in your margarine.
Margarine will add rich butthereal flavor to all your recipes. However, it’s designed to have less fat than butter and shortening, so you need to use more or add in your favorite oils to replace that missing fat in the mix. Without added fat, the structure of your baked goods will be softer.
Lard
Lard refers to animal fat that has been rendered for cooking. If you’re shopping for lard in a grocery store, make sure it’s hydrogenated which means that it contains trans fat.
Lard can also be done at home by buying animal fat at the butcher and rendering it on the stovetop. Lard will often taste very much like meat, so this should be taken into consideration when figuring out what would be a suitable substitute. Obviously if you’re vegan, this is not appropriate as a substitution.”
Be aware that lard is animal fat that has been rendered down and hydrogenated. Lard bought at a store will contain trans fat and it will often taste like meat, so use it as a substitution when you need to. Lard is not appropriate for vegans, however.
