Cookie problems

[GotGarlic]

One four ounce stick of butter is only half a cup. A pound of butter is two cups. But, we have to pay extra for butter in sticks, instead of a one pound block of butter. i recently checked online for here in Quebec and it was usually at least $2 more for one pound of butter (same brand) in sticks as compared to one pound blocks.

And? If you know a block of butter is 2 cups, and you know you need a half cup for your recipe, most people can do the math, right?

 

[jennyema]

I think most of the recipes we come across were developed in the United States. Most of the butter for sale in the United States is sold in boxes of four sticks.

Sometimes pounds come with 8 sticks. Ive made that mistake before

 

[GotGarlic]

I'm not talking about recipes that call for a specific amount. I'm talking about recipes that call for a package or a stick or whatever.

I was referring just to the butter. A stick of butter is the same as it's always been. I know other types of goods have been reduced in size.

 

[GotGarlic]

Sometimes pounds come with 8 sticks. Ive made that mistake before

Really? I've never seen that. I guess it's something to watch for.

 

[taxlady]

And? If you know a block of butter is 2 cups, and you know you need a half cup for your recipe, most people can do the math, right?

Maybe I misunderstood dragnlaw when she wrote,

I agree and if you buy butter in sticks it is a given. But if you rarely, IF EVER, buy butter in sticks, you have no idea. Although I do now use a scale - there was a time I did not and had no idea what 4 oz or 1/4 lb translated into a measuring cup.

I understood that as meaning there were 1 quarter of a pound of butter was equal to 1 measuring cup of butter.

 

[dragnlaw]

A block of butter is only 2 cups if it is a new block... but a week later after 7 breakfasts, a bit of a fry for the scallops, it is no longer 2 lbs., and don't forget a couple of Tbsp for the bread machine. So now how do you measure off a 1/4 or often (heaven forbid - awk!) 1/3 of a pound... or was that 1/3 of a cup?
- tomatoes - tomahtoes
- potatoes - potahtoes

 

[Andy M.]

All this discussion of stick, cups (American and English cups are different), etc. just reinforces the benefit of using weights to measure ingredients.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Really? I've never seen that. I guess it's something to watch for.

I buy the half sticks for the freezer when they are on sale.

 

[GotGarlic]

A block of butter is only 2 cups if it is a new block... but a week later after 7 breakfasts, a bit of a fry for the scallops, it is no longer 2 lbs., and don't forget a couple of Tbsp for the bread machine. So now how do you measure off a 1/4 or often (heaven forbid - awk!) 1/3 of a pound... or was that 1/3 of a cup?
- tomatoes - tomahtoes
- potatoes - potahtoes

I'm sorry your government hasn't figured out how to make it easy to measure butter

Each stick of butter here has a paper wrapper marked with measurements like this, which is why recipes using butter generally specify tablespoons or cups:

 

[dragnlaw]

Wow! I'm impressed GG! We have the measurements on the wrappers too (works well when the wrappers are wrapped evenly).
Certainly not in the detail that you've shown. That's great... but as I've said, once out of the wrappers, and into the butter dish being used during the week....

My son keeps the wrappers and uses them to grease a pan. Always said I would do that... lol, never happened more than once or twice.

I'm especially impressed with the metric and weights mentioned.

 

[pepperhead212]

I never use anything except butter in all those cookies I bake, and never have any problems. However, I do weigh the flour, and always start with new eggs. Eggs can loose some of their weight, which is the water - a fresh large egg weighs 2 oz, scraping the whites out of the shells; if you don't do that, some of the moisture will be in the shells when discarded. Old eggs - you know, the kind that float, when you go to boil them - have a thicker white, and would result in a dryer dough. However, the "old eggs" can still be used - just weigh them into a bowl, or a Pyrex measuring cup (what I always use for weighing out eggs), and add a little water, to bring the weight to 2 oz/egg. I find it easier to start with a new batch (or two) of eggs.

 

[taxlady]

Here in Canada we can get the sticks, they just cost more than the block of butter. When I start a pound of butter, I cut the pound into four pieces. I just eyeball them. I put one piece in the butter dish in the dining room and I put the other three pieces, back in the foil wrapper that the butter comes in and put that in the fridge. If I can't eyeball 2 tblsps or whatever out of what is left in the butter dish, I take another piece of the butter and use that for eyeballing however much it was that I wanted. Yeah, sometimes the wrapper has one piece that has a square taken out of it or half is missing, but that all works out. If I want to be more precise, I'll use the scale.

 

[GotGarlic]

Wow! I'm impressed GG! We have the measurements on the wrappers too (works well when the wrappers are wrapped evenly).
Certainly not in the detail that you've shown. That's great... but as I've said, once out of the wrappers, and into the butter dish being used during the week....

I think with some experience using butter labeled this way, you can eyeball a tablespoon or a half stick (4 tbsp or a 1/4 cup). Or I'll cut some off of a new stick from the fridge, use what I need and put the rest in the butter dish on the counter.

 

[HeyItsSara]

i get a box of sticks, since butter is cheaper that way, and freeze it. I find a tub gets moldy.

 

[pictonguy]

i get a box of sticks, since butter is cheaper that way, and freeze it. I find a tub gets moldy.

Where I live sticks are more expensive and I've yet to see a tub of butter and I've never seen mold on butter. If mold does somehow form on butter i wouldn't be looking at it as a butter problem but more of a human handling problem, imo.

 

[taxlady]

Where I live sticks are more expensive and I've yet to see a tub of butter and I've never seen mold on butter. If mold does somehow form on butter i wouldn't be looking at it as a butter problem but more of a human handling problem, imo.

I have seen butter get mould, once. The weather was warm and we leave some butter out in a butter dish. We hadn't been using butter much, so I don't blame the butter, just how long it had been sitting out at a warm, room temperature, probably 2 weeks or more.

 

[jennyema]

Ive never seen a tub of actual butter. Just butter mixed with oil, which I dont use.

 

[msmofet]

Really? I've never seen that. I guess it's something to watch for.

I love these for things that call for 4 TBSP.

 

[caseydog]

Really? I've never seen that. I guess it's something to watch for.

I have. They are just 8 half sticks instead of 4 full sticks. I bought some by mistake, too.

CD

 

[caseydog]

I have seen butter get mould, once. The weather was warm and we leave some butter out in a butter dish. We hadn't been using butter much, so I don't blame the butter, just how long it had been sitting out at a warm, room temperature, probably 2 weeks or more.

I have seen butter left out on the counter get moldy, but only once. It actually happened a few months ago. I had it in a Tupperware type bowl. I wondered if the butter needs to breathe a bit, and the tight seal of the container caused the mold.

CD