Learned the hard way why you don't swap oil for butter in cookies

I was making a double batch of chocolate chip cookies last Tuesday and ran out of butter halfway through, so I subbed in vegetable oil for the rest. They spread into one giant flat sheet on the pan and tasted like greasy sadness. Has anyone else tried a last minute swap that totally wrecked a recipe?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby45017d ago

Did you use the same amount of oil as the butter called for? That ratio is a killer because oil is pure fat while butter has water in it so it changes everything.

gonzalez.reese17d ago

Adding to what @ruby450 said, the water content in butter is the real issue here. Butter is about 80% fat and 20% water, so when you swap in pure oil you're adding way more liquid fat and zero water. That extra liquid makes the dough spread like crazy before the structure sets. If you had cut the oil amount by maybe a quarter and added a tablespoon of milk or water per stick of oil you subbed, it might have held together better. I did the same thing with a boxed cake mix once, subbed oil for melted butter and it came out dense and greasy. End result was a cookie puddle that looked like a science experiment.