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" Q: A couple of people in my family need to avoid saturated fat. Can I substitute oil for butter in my holiday baking? \u2014 Anita Fremont, Boca Raton, FL A: In most cases, the answer is no. Many holiday baked goods rely on butter not only for its characteristic rich flavor, but also for the structure it brings to cakes and cookies. When you beat butter (or margarine or shortening) with sugar, it expands in volume and lightens the texture \u2014 but oil does not. So when you use oil in baking, you risk winding up with flat cookies, dense cakes, or fallen crusts. For muffins, carrot cakes, and other intentionally dense cakes like gingerbread, oil&amp;#039;s moisture is an advantage. In recipes like these you can substitute: Since oil is 100% fat (to butter&amp;#039;s 81%), for every half-cup (1 stick) of butter called for, substitute the same amount of oil minus 1 tablespoon \u2014 and replace that with 1 tablespoon water. Also add 1/4 salt. When in doubt, replace butter with a stick of trans-fat free butter substitute, which has the same fat content. Or bake dairy-free cookies like our delicious Christmas Macarons. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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