Talking Allergies

If you're living dairy-free ...

Curious to know: which margarine or other butter substitute do you find best in baking?

Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks...no good for the soy allergic though

I use the Earth Balance spreadable margarine in tubs to make frosting, but I've found recipes for muffins, cookies, cake, etc that only use veggie oil, so I don't use any margarine for baking.

I've used margaine, oil or shortening to replace butter. It depends on the recipe and the expected outcome. For frostings I use a mixture of maragine and shortening, for cookies I use margarine for cakes I use oil. My family scarf down the food with no complaints but then, they don't know any different. We tend to like strong flavoured foods so maybe we don't notice because of that?

1 cup Butter (salted) try one of the following:
1 cup margarine
1 cup shortening plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
7/8 cup vegetable oil plus 1/2 teaspoon salt
7/8 cup lard plus 1/2 teaspoon salt

for 1 cup Butter (unsalted) try one of these:
1 cup shortening
7/8 cup vegetable oil
7/8 cup lard

For more substitutions, here's a handy chart. http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/Common-Ingr ... etail.aspx

We use the Fleischmann's margarine. It comes in two small tubs in one box.

Diana, I never bought Fleischmann's because I was under the impression there was milk protein in there?? Would it vary from province to province?

I bought a tub of Fleishman's as well before I knew about Earth Balance. Ours doesn't contain dairy, but it does have artificial flavour, which is why I now buy Earth Balance. We're in BC if it makes a difference with provinces. . . .

Lisa, there is no milk in Fleishmann's. There was a recall at one time due to dairy but that was resolved.

I have yet to find a margarine that isn't processed in a facility that also produces products containing milk.

Susan, does the Fleischmann's facility produce milk products? I didn't notice anything on the package. Our allergist (Dr. Ham Pong) recommended the Fleischmann's to us.

Thanks for your responses everyone, and Susan for your substitutes and proportions.

Diana, I'll defer to Susan's greater knowledge of things d-f re your Unilever question.

Your best bet is to contact the company directly and ask them about production lines etc.

http://www.fleischmanns.com/index.jsp

I use olive oil in my baking. My hubby is allergic to dairy, my son is allergic to soy.

Kmommy-That's a hard combination to work with!

Btw, did you see the new Earth Balance substitute we wrote up in the Fall issue of Allergic Living?

No dairy + no soy! It's called Soy Free Spread.
It's on page 13 - or see it here: http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/#/products/soy-free/

Wow, that would make my life so much easier!!! Thanks for letting me know about it!!!