Butter has the lowest melting point, which causes baked goods to spread before the binding agent, such as egg or gluten becomes firm. Margarine’s melting point is only slightly higher than that of butter. Shortening’s melting point is significantly higher, reducing the spread of baked goods in the oven.
Commercially hydrogenated vegetable oil is extremely cheap and shelf stable. The taste is “improved” with extra sugar.
Research is changing the nutritional view of butter, margarine, and shortening. As a consumer label reading is crucial. Margarine is a term that includes a lot of different manufacturing processes some contain partially hydrogenated oils.
New processes for creating shortening use fully hydrogenated vegetable oil which does not contain trans fat. Fully hydrogenated shortening alone is too solid for cooking, so it is blended with oils such as safflower and cottonseed to produce the proper consistency. This is being touted as a more healthful approach, but for years margarine was said to be more healthful than butter.
Now about lard. Lard is simply rendered pork fat. Suet is beef or sheep and Kosher varieties can be used when necessary. Sounds terrible, doesn’t it? It is a marvelous fat for certain types of baking. It produces beautiful crusts for savory pies. When properly rendered it is a flavorless fat that is solid at room temperature, it does not contain water, like butter, which improves the texture of pie crust. It also does not contain trans fat. While lard is a useful fat, be careful to label baked goods as containing animal or pork products if you may be serving vegetarians or those who practice Kosher or Halal diets.
http://www.home-ec101.com/butter-makes-it-better/
Butter
Made from cream that’s been churned into a solid state, butter is versatile, reliable, and can pack a dish with flavor. Typical butter is around 80 percent fat—the rest is water and milk solids. With this ratio, butter can hold its own in a variety of situations, whether you’re frying eggs or whipping up chocolate chip cookies.
Butter comes salted or unsalted, and though we know it’s easy to reach for whatever’s on hand, don’t mistake the two for nearly identical products with different packaging. Using salted butter when unsalted is called for isn’t going to turn a sweet dish savory, but it may not reach its full potential. Salted butter can function fine in cakes, cookies, and similar baked goods (just make sure you eliminate the additional pinch of salt), but you’ll want to go to salt-free and be able to control the level of salinity (saltiness) for things like sauces.
Margarine
Originally invented in the 1860s as an inexpensive butter substitute, margarine is a trickier beast to cook with. Margarine is created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil. It’s often heavily diluted—especially the kind found in tubs. You can be working with something that’s as low as 35 percent fat. (Remember, fat = flavor.) This means it’s not a very reliable option for baking but will still work fine in other cooking.
Most margarine is packed with transfats, which are best avoided; if you do choose to use margarine, look for one that is completely free of transfats.
Lard
Julia Child once said, “If you’re afraid of butter, use cream.” We hope that when it comes to cooking, you’re not afraid of butter or butter’s big sister, lard. (Even if it has suffered from a not-so-favorable reputation.) Though it’s made from raw or rendered pig fat, don’t worry: it won’t taste like pork. We’re excited that its virtues are once again being celebrated, as it’s entirely versatile and great for frying, roasting, or making some of the flakiest pastries you’ve ever tried. We love it in pie crusts, crispy vegetables, biscuits, or collard greens everyone will actually want to eat. For sweet treats, it will make for more shortbread-style cookies or tender, but less rich, cakes.
Shortening
The word “shortening” actually refers to all fat and oils, but is most commonly associated with Crisco and other vegetable oil products. To make shortening, oils like soybean, cottonseed, or palm are hydrogenated (read: a scientist adds the chemical hydrogen) so they stay semisolid at room temperature. Like lard, shortening is 100 percent fat, but unlike lard, it was enjoying a period of popularity in recent years. We love what it adds to our favorite sugar cookies.
However, newer research has found it might be less healthy. A lot of shortening is packed with artificial trans fat, so to protect your health be sure to look for options that are not hydrogenated. Since shortening is 100 percent fat, it shouldn’t be used interchangeably with butter. If you’re going to swap that can of Crisco for anything, let that be lard, as both are great for preparing flaky pastries or crisp veggies.
Knowing what butter, margarine, lard, and shortening bring to the table will help you finesse your favorite recipes and master a wide range of dishes across the cooking gamut.
https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/the-difference-between-butter-margarine-shortening-and-lard/
For some people, baking a perfect cookie is a difficult task that requires careful consideration and ample practice. While some people prefer cookies that are thin and crispy, others like them soft and chewy, while still others prefer a combination of the two. No matter how you enjoy them, the ingredients you use ultimately determine the flavor, texture and consistency of the cookie. In fact, making a simple switch between butter, shortening and margarine while baking cookies can have drastic effects on your final product.
Spread
Shortening has the highest melting temperature. When the cookies are baking, the dough is able to hold its shape for longer before the shortening begin to melt. As a result, the flour and eggs have time to set in place before the cookie begins collapsing. Margarine and butter only have slightly different melting temperatures, so they offer a similar amount of spread. Using them in your recipe often causes the cookies to spread much more extensively during the baking process. This usually results in flatter, crispier cookies -- and if you’re not careful, they will easily burn to a crisp if baked too long. To prevent cookies from spreading too extensively, freeze the dough on the cookie sheets before popping them in the oven.
Flavor
Margarine and shortening deliver essentially zero flavor to your cookie recipe. Butter, on the other hand, delivers a delectable taste that cannot be matched by any other ingredient. Although you can use butter-flavored shortening, it does not quire replicate the taste of true butter. When making your decision based on flavor, simply choose the option that most pleases your tastes.
Nutrition
In one tablespoon, both butter and stick margarine deliver approximately 100 calories, tub margarine roughly 60 calories and shortening 110 calories. All three options are quite high in fat, ranging from 10 to 15 calories per tablespoon. Butter is highest in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can clog the body’s arteries. On the other hand, margarine has both saturated fat and transsaturated fat. Trans fats raise LDL cholesterol levels and lower HDL cholesterol levels, making them even more dangerous than saturated fat. Although shortening does contain saturated fat, it does not have any cholesterol. In regards to the nutritional aspect of the comparison process, all three options have advantages and disadvantages when baking cookies. Although it might be nutritionally beneficial to choose the option with the lowest fat content, the cookies’ taste and texture will be impacted.
Other Tips
Whether you use butter, margarine or shortening, it is essential that you use the appropriate form recommended in the recipe. For example, if the recipe calls for melted butter, use that form only. Using solid butter or boiling it to a thin liquid will significantly change the ultimate texture of the cookie. Similarly, if the recipe calls for room-temperature margarine or shortening, be sure to pull the product out of the refrigerator several hours before you plan to bake the cookies.
https://www.livestrong.com/article/427494-butter-vs-shortening-vs-margarine-in-baking-cookies/
While used for many of the same purposes, butter and margarine are two very different products. The primary factor that sets them apart is what they're made from, and thus the types of fats they contain.
What Is Butter?
Butter is the dairy product made from churning milk or cream. The churning process separates the butterfat (the solids) from the buttermilk (the liquid). The butter we most often buy is made from cow's milk, although other varieties — made from the milk of sheep, goat, yak, or buffalo — are also available. While typically pale yellow in color, butter can range from white to deep yellow, depending on the animal's diet. And since, at its core, butter is made from one ingredient, it can be made at home.
You may have noticed your butter labeled as "sweet cream butter." This indicates that the cream used to make the butter was pasteurized, or first heated to kill any pathogens and prevent spoilage. It's worth noting that all butter in the U.S. is pasteurized. The alternative, raw butter, which is made with raw milk, is prohibited from being commercially sold in the U.S., although it may be found in certain parts of Europe.
Whipped butter, designed to be more spreadable, adds air into the butter, making it lighter and less dense. So an equal-sized portion of whipped butter, as compared to regular butter, has fewer calories and a lower fat content.
The biggest factor that sets different brands of butter apart is the fat content, which ultimately has an effect on the butter's taste and texture. All commercially sold butter in the U.S. must be at least 80 percent fat. As butter is an animal fat, it contains cholesterol and is higher in saturated fat than margarine.
What Is Margarine?
Margarine is a non-dairy product created as a substitute for butter. While originally made from animal fat in the 1800s, today the primary ingredients include vegetable oil, water, salt, emulsifiers, and some also include milk. Margarine can be found in both sticks and tubs.
It's important to know that not all margarine is created equal. There are variations from brand to brand, so it's important to read the label. Unlike butter, margarine isn't something that can be made at home.
Like butter, regular margarine must also have a minimum fat content of 80 percent by law. Anything less is considered a "spread." The margarine and spreads found in the dairy aisle can range from 10 to 90 percent fat. Depending on the fat content, the levels of vegetable oil and water will vary, with those containing a lower fat content having a higher percentage of water.
Since margarine's primary component is vegetable oil, it lacks the cholesterol and saturated fat found in butter, and has a higher percentage of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. It may, however, contain trans fat — although, many brands have reduced or totally eliminated this from the ingredient lineup, using palm oil and palm kernel oil in its place.
Which Is Better? Butter or Margine?
If you've tasted each of these spreads, then you know just how vastly different they are. Growing up in the early '80s, we were a margarine household for quite a long time. Thankfully at some point we made the switch to butter. Once I tasted really good butter, it was like a light came on and I knew this was the stuff I needed to be eating. Good-quality butter tastes amazing — there's just no way around it.
The type of fat found in butter and margarine is a defining factor in what sets them apart. While butter is derived from animal fat, margarine is made with vegetable oil. This difference has an impact on taste, texture, and nutrition.
As far as substituting one for the other, it's best to go by the recipe, especially when it comes to baking. Those margarines that have a lower fat content contain more water, which can lead to tougher baked goods.
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-between-butter-and-margarine-223410
Margarine
Margarine is hydrogenated oil and saturated fat which is known to be the approximation of butter. It is comprised of flavoring, water, oil and milk ingredients. The creation of margarine is basically inspired by butter, sans the cholesterol that is usually present in real butter. So yes, we can call margarine as a butter substitute based on health reasons alone.
Shortening
Shortening is basically 100% hydrogenated oil to make it solid instead of being liquid especially in room temperature. Hence, it is non saturated fat. For the ones in the know, shortening is like lard and fat but is vegetable-based in nature. In addition to that, shortening can be a great replacement to lard. When defined in the simplest way, it is any fat or oil utilized to make crust or dough.
Difference between Margarine and Shortening
Margarine is apparently a kind of hydrogenated oil; Shortening is hydrogenated to make it solid (in room temperature) in lieu of having a liquid consistency. While margarine is saturated fat, shortening is non-saturated in nature. Flavoring, oil, whey and water comprised the very composition of margarine; shortening is the kind of fat or oil that is used to make crust or dough. While Margarine is meant as a replacement for real butter, shortening is known to be basically vegetable based that is meant to replace hard animal fat or lard.
In brief:
• Margarine is saturated fat; Shortening is non-saturated.
• Margarine is a real butter replacement; Shortening is meant to replace lard.
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-margarine-and-vs-shortening/