Warning about swapping butter for margarine in my grandma's pie crust

I tried margarine instead of butter in my grandma's apple pie crust last Thanksgiving because I ran out of butter and figured it would be fine. The crust came out crumbly and greasy and my aunt called it a sad biscuit disaster at the dinner table. Has anyone else ruined a family recipe by swapping one fat for another without adjusting the liquid?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_roberts12d ago

Margarine has way more water than butter so it messes with the flour to fat ratio. Your grandma's recipe probably counted on butter being around 80% fat and margarine being less.

the_sam12d ago

Funny how we always think we can swap stuff out without consequences, isn't it?

black.jake12d ago

Yeah so miles is totally right about the water content thing. Margarine is basically water with some oil mixed in while butter is mostly fat with a little bit of milk solids. That extra water makes the flour soak up more liquid and turns your crust into a gluey mess instead of a flaky one. If you're dead set on using margarine you gotta cut back on the cold water in the recipe by like a tablespoon or two. Even then it still won't taste the same because butter has that rich flavor from the milk fat that margarine just can't fake. Grandma knew what she was doing with that butter.