i want to make brownies but there are no low(er) fat vegetable/canola/corn/etc oils. I would rather use something low fat like low fat butter. Can i substitute one for the other? would i have to boil the butter into a liquid before i used it? how much butter = 1 serving of oil?
Low fat butter? Is this some blend or something?
Generally you can substitute real butter for vegetable oil in baked recipes. Many older recipes probably started out using either butter or lard. That being said, you shouldn’t <B>fry</B> things in butter because it will burn.
And anyone who would inflict canola oil on anyone won’t get my vote.
They don’t make lower-fat anykind of oil because oil is, by definition, pure fat. (Low fat “butter” can’t possibly be real butter, since by law (in the US, at least) that has to be a certain high percentage of fat as well.) I wouldn’t try baking with low-fat margarine, which is only meant for use as a (rather nasty-tasting) spread.
What’s ‘a serving of oil’? I believe that you can substitute the same volume of butter for oil in most recipes, i.e., 4 tablespoons=1/4 cup.
In baking, you can usually substitute oil and butter for each other, although it will change the texture and probably require some experimentation before you get it exactly right. In brownies and chocolate cake, I sometimes will substitute apple sauce (not the chunky kind!) for half of the oil, with a minor sacrifice in texture. They’re slightly less fudgey, but taste about the same.
Butter is commonly used in certain types of brownies, but I don’t think we’re supposed to discuss those types on this board.
Melt it down, measure it out, and bake away!
Clarification: You can’t fry things in butter that hasn’t been clarified. Clarified butter, or its toasted cousin, ghee, can be used to fry foods because the milk solids have been removed. This raises the smoke point from about 300F to about 375F. You may, of course, saute foods in butter out of the carton.
I’m going to guess you’re not a very good cook, ok? Speaking as one not very good cook to another, don’t try it. It might work for someone who knows what they’re doing, but not for you and me.
Take GilaB’s advice and use half oil, half apple sauce. This usually works pretty well.
Also, check the low-fat butter you have. It probably says, in tiny print, “not for use in baking.”
Another option is to search the web for low-fat brownie recipes. Here’s one I found:
The drawback is, you may have to make several recipes to find one you like.
Just a guess, but since the OP refers to low fat “butter”, she may be referring to low fat margarine. As pointed out by GilaB, if a product is lower in fat, there is something else there in place of the fat.
Lowfat margarine spreads may have quite a bit of water, so the manufacturers typically recommend that they not be used in baking.
Practically speaking, you can use most any oil/margarine/butter product with the boxed brownie mix and end up OK. I have tried the applesauce substitution with decent results.
But don’t, as you said in your OP, boil it. If you want to use butter leave it out of the fridge until it is soft and then cut it in. If you liquify the butter, it will separate and the results will be much different. Not in a pleasant way.
Butter in stick form is already measured on the wrapper.
If your goal is to have less fat in the brownies, switching from oil to butter won’t help. As people said, using low-fat margarine imitation butter spread will NOT make for good brownies.
Melted butter would probably work fine in place of oil for baking (it would add a little buttery taste, but that’s fine for brownies, and might change the texture slightly, but probably be unnoticeable). However you’d normally want to replace oil with the same amount of butter (by volume). Regular [not LITE] margarine would also work, again using the same amounts, but it’s got the same fat content as butter.
That said, just using less oil than the recipe calls for might make perfectly yummy brownies with less fat. As an experiment, try using half the called for oil, and see how they come out. They won’t be quite as moist or rich, but might still be well worth eating.
[Of course, there are still plenty of calories in that brownie, and cutting a few tablespoons of fat from a pan of brownies won’t do much compared to one large fries. My personal opinion is to skip the fries and use my fat and calorie ration on good rich desserts, but YMMV.]
If your goal is to have less fat in the brownies, switching from oil to butter won’t help. As people said, using low-fat margarine imitation butter spread will NOT make for good brownies.
Melted butter would probably work fine in place of oil for baking (it would add a little buttery taste, but that’s fine for brownies, and might change the texture slightly, but probably be unnoticeable). However you’d normally want to replace oil with the same amount of butter (by volume). Regular [not LITE] margarine would also work, again using the same amounts, but it’s got the same fat content as butter. I think the best way to use it is to melt it, but don’t let it cook or boil at all once it’s melted (just melting it briefly won’t really separate it, but letting it boil for a few minutes will)).
That said, just using less oil than the recipe calls for might make perfectly yummy brownies with less fat. As an experiment, try using half the called for oil, and see how they come out. They won’t be quite as moist or rich, but might still be well worth eating.
[Of course, there are still plenty of calories in that brownie, and cutting a few tablespoons of fat from a pan of brownies won’t do much compared to one large fries. My personal opinion is to skip the fries and use my fat and calorie ration on good rich desserts, but YMMV.]
Cooking–especially baking–is largely a chemical process. Fat is a very specific chemical with very specific process. Thus you’ll get different results if you about randomly replacing the fat in a recipe with things that are not-fat. So it might take some experimentation.
In any case, since there’s no such thing as low-fat butter (as ludicrous and self-contradictory a concept as warm ice), it’s a faux-margarine product with other solids in it to dilute the fat. Those solids are very probably not intended to undergo the heat of a baking oven and may do something odd like break down or coagulate. So don’t use your Low Fat Pasteurized Processed Golden Yellow Flavored Food Product; it probably won’t work.
High fiber fruit, such as apples and prunes, can help baked goods hold enough moisture to almost compensate for reduced fat, but I’d still rather eat half a real brownie than a half-fat brownie any old day. I’d probably spread butter on one of your brownies before I ate it. 
butter, margarine, whatever.
THis is what i use, blue bonnet light
This is nothing more than hydrogenated vegetable oil (trans-fat). It’s probably worse for you than the butter.
I always substitute apple sauce for all the oil called for in the recipe. As far as I can tell the brownies taste the same. For an interesting taste variation grate the skin of one (just one) orange and add it to the mix. Yummy.
define ‘worse for me’? do you mean healthwise? if so i’m not concerned, its only 1 gram of saturated fat plus im 24 so im not worried of dying tomorrow.
any particular brand/type of applesauce or just motts?
Kraft’s Less Fat Brownies.
I would substitute peanut oil for the canola oil (better taste, and you want a nutty flavor); you can also drop the pecans to lower the fat more.
Also, be careful of those low-fat (or even fat-free!) “margarines”. They have to substitute something for the fat, and often, what they substitute is mono- and diglycerides. For comparison, fats are triglycerides. So a mono- or diglyceride is something that’s almost like fat, and has pretty much the same effect in the body, but is just different enough from a real fat that they’re allowed to say “Low fat!” on the label.
And if you don’t care about what’s worse for you, then why bother trying to make low-fat brownies?
Then why are you trying to make them low fat? (not that I agree that low fat = healthy, but understand many do)
im losing weight.
I guess the applesauce idea is pretty good, im going to try that.