Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Made them yesterday. BEST EVER. Never will veer from this recipe again. Want to send love letters to them...saw them on counter this morning and had to use every cell to resist eating 5 for breakfast.

I think before you can find the perfect CCC recipe, you must first describe your perfect CCC. Is it chewy or crispy-crunchy?

I tried the recipe just now and i may say that this the best yet I ever made. Chewy in the middle and crunchy on the sides. I used MUSCOVADO BROWN SUGAR though, it has aroma in it and for the chocolate...I used 100 gr chocolate milk bar, 1 bar of toblerone dark chocolate and 1/2 bar of 80% dark chocolate cos I ran out of chocolate chips. I cant wait till my son wake up tomorrow and taste it!! Thanks.

@producestories:

If anyone's tone in this thread is patronizing and arrogant, it's yours. Further, you are the one who seems to have reading comprehension problems. The topic of this thread concerns ORGANIC butter. So you see, YOU are the one comparing apples to oranges.

If you want to compare conventional butter to the product made by Earth Balance, fine, but that's an exercise in the obvious, as we all know the problems in the conventional dairy industry. Even so, conventional butter compared to conventional vegetable spreads is a no brainer, butter wins, despite the fact that most people believe otherwise because they are brainwashed by advertising.

Organic butter compared to organic veg spreads is also a no brainer, in that the butter is clean, and therefore the major health risks involved i.e. hormones and antibiotics are not present, so the qualities of butter in baking far outweigh those of the veg product, no matter how awesome EB is.

The original question makes the assumption that butter is not healthy, when in fact it IS, or at least, healthier than most processed fats designed to substitute butter, and there is nothing wrong with commenters making that point clear. So please, get off your high horse.

I also haven't found a way to get around the brussels sprouts smell. I brought leftover sprouts to work one day (the skillet-roasted type are actually really good cold, with some extra salt and balsamico), and was *still* paranoid that I'd stunk up the lunchroom.

Same with cauliflower. Even cold, roasted cauliflower has that distinctive smell that really bothers a lot of people. I've resigned myself to not eating any of the cole family veggies in a public setting.

Some things are just meant to be enjoyed only in the privacy of one's home, you know? :)

Butter IS NOT HEALTHY if it is made from milk produced by corporate agriculture - cows fed antibiotics and hormones, who are both in pain and diseased. The massive dairy industry spends piles and piles of money trying to convince people that it's fine - don't cry for the dairy industry because nasty soy and corn are after them. Earth Balance is made by a company who uses non-GMO, organic soy - corporate soy is neither of these things. EB isn't perpetrating anti-dairy propaganda.

If you can get butter made from local, grass-fed cows, then its abundant nutritional benefits probably outweigh its saturated fat and cholesterol content. But people have a lot of reasons for cutting down on the amount of even the good kind of dairy - some are sensitive to lactose, some are trying to cut down on the amount of animal products in their diet, and some want to avoid the growth hormones found in all milk (they're there to nourish baby cows).

Butter isn't bad, but there are a lot of definitions of "healthy." The original question wasn't whether butter is healthy, but what can be used to subsitute for it. Everyone should feel free to champion butter, but some of the "pro-butter" posts here have been disappointing in their condescending and reactionary tone.

Butter IS healthy. The reason why you think butter isn't healthy is because of the mud slinging marketing campaigns paid for by the soy and corn industries to promote their highly processed artificial and toxic ersatz butter spreads. If you are a serious baker, you will use leaf lard instead of butter for certain applications. Lard is also quite healthy. Especially if you can get it from a reliable source that makes it from organicly fed, humanely raised drug free pigs. Try your local farmer's market.

For a real treat, make your own butter. A little trick to give it that deep rich flavor you find in French and Irish butter: the night before you will make it, put the cream out on the counter in a clean glass mason jar. Mix in a couple dollops of Crème Fraîche or Mascarpone. Mix it well to thoroughly blend it. Cover with some cheesecloth. This will allow the cultures in the cream to come back to life resulting in a much richer flavor.

Really good question! We love cooking brussels sprouts at home but the smell does seem to linger. When it's just the two of us, who cares, but I feel your anxiousness about the school/work microwave situation. I am going to try lighting a match and/or burning a candle next time to see if it helps.

I use Earth Balance mostly, and very occasionally coconut oil. I try substituting applesauce in baked goods.

There are even some recipes where you can use either light olive oil or canola oil on a 1:1 ratio, but only in some cakes -- never in cookies.

What do you mean by 'healthier'--lower in calories, fat, etc?

I'm semi-vegan and often use vegan products to sub things, but you should know if calories are a concern, the Earth Balance, while it tastes okay, is the same amount of calories as butter. Some of the others like Smart Balance, are not vegan, and are mostly water added to chemicals and taste absolutely vile. Trust me, I've tried them.

The best substitute I've found, calorically, is Land O'Lakes light butter, which is a blend of canola oil and (gasp) butter with 50 calories a tablespoon (versus 100) and no unnatural ingredients. In terms of not eating dairy, I rationalize I don't consume all that much butter in a serving so it won't kill me.

For some recipes, you can try prune puree (chocolate) or applesauce for the fat--but unless you're willing to have an odd result, it's best to look for tested recipes designed for low fat cooking with those subs, rather than do it yourself.

I say, stick (no pun intended) with the butter. Unless you're eating the whole pan yourself, unhealthy fat-wise, if cholesterol is a concern, you won't consume that much, and if you're worried about calories, the substitues other than the Land O'Lakes don't offer that much of a savings.

I have to recommend Earth Balance too. Organic, non-GMO ingredients.

I was a butter girl and was going to die one too (my mom regularly chastised me before the hydrogenated scares), but my daughter begged me to let her have some Earth Balance. I was shocked to find that I think it tastes better, lasts longer, and doesn't pick up the fridge flavors like butter will. One tub later and we haven't gone back since (now over two years).

They do have sticks and shortening but I haven't tried either yet. However, all their products do have soy oil though it is organic, GMO-free which avoids a lot of the problems some people have with soy. However, Spectrum has some too which are soy-free and still organic. I like coconut butter in some baked goods and peanut oil (with lots of vitamin e) is great in other baked goods giving a lovely flavor.

Eat them cold? ;-)

This sounds a lot like the southern Buttermilk Pie. Has anyone made both? comparisons on taste?