Pastry lard

[Whitewood]

My mother called me and asked me if I knew much about the use of "pastry lard ." She said that she had used it to make Gingerbread cookies and they turned out very hard. She was very clear in telling me about the fact that what she used was lard not shortening. Was it in fact the lard that caused the hard cookies or something else ?
Anyone's help would be appreciated.:lol:
Al

 

[karrie]

I've never made cookies with anything but butter or margarine, so I can't really tell you if the lard was THE culprit, but, in my experience, over cooking, and old molasses, have been culprits in creating hard as rock ginger snaps for me in the past.

 

[talloola]

Since the onset of shortening, (crisco, etc.) I have baked with it, fried with it, etc.
Now in the last few years have learned that shortening is very bad for us, (trans fats) and lard
being a natural food is much more easily digested by our bodies, so I have gradually returned
to lard, and olive oil, and grapeseed oil, etc.
I now make the best pastry I have ever made, and I allready thought I did that from shortening. The recipe on the lard box turns out wonderful pastry, and a
large batch, so that some can be frozen and used at a later date.
Have not made cookies with lard, but with the xmas season drawing near, I will
attempt to do so.
I have 'no' shortening in my kitchen any more, and won't buy it
I also use butter for baking now, but only buy butter when I'm baking, as I use
becel light margarine for everyday use.
When using lard for baking, don't 'just' substitute lard for shortening, find recipes
that call for lard to begin with, or butter.

 

[#juan]

Lard is the only way to go with pie crust. I would use butter in shortbread but generally margarine works in everything else. If you turn out rock hard ginger snaps with lard I'm not surprised. Both butter and margarine contain milk solids that contribute to a softer cookie.

 

[VanIsle]

You are eating almost straight lard (and or shortening)in the icing on a store made cake. That's why most of them taste so gross. I have always used lard in my pastry but I don't let any of the family members know that because many are vegetarians. Shortbread has to have butter.

 

[VanIsle]

My mother called me and asked me if I knew much about the use of "pastry lard ." She said that she had used it to make Gingerbread cookies and they turned out very hard. She was very clear in telling me about the fact that what she used was lard not shortening. Was it in fact the lard that caused the hard cookies or something else ?
Anyone's help would be appreciated.:lol:
Al

I don't think it's the lard because: (Crisco is shortening)

GRANDMOTHER'S HARD GINGERBREAD COOKIES
3/4 c. Crisco
1 c. sugar
1 c. molasses
3 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ginger
Mix all together - batter will be very stiff. Pat out onto cookie sheet (10x16) and criss-cross with fork. Bake at 350 degrees, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into squares.

 

[TenPenny]

I read an interesting article recently, and I don't know where, about which to use for pastry - lard or butter. Me, I've always used shortening, unless it's for a tart crust, but 'the experts' all agreed that either butter or lard was the key for pastry.

That's irrelevant to the question at hand; my favorite gingerbread cookies are softer (at least for the first few days), but I know some people who make extremely thin, crisp gingerbread cookies.

I think your mother's issue might have been they were too thin and/or time/temp of cooking too long, which may very well be a result of using lard, often a subtle change in ingredients will change the way cookies bake.

 

[TenPenny]

That reminds me of another problem we had about 15 years ago. There used to be a Lantic Sugar refinery here in Saint John, which closed. They made their brown sugar with a different process; when they announced they were shutting down, many of the home bakers bought up every package of the brown sugar they could find, because everyone's gingerbread recipes were based on that brown sugar, and didn't work with the other type. People went all over the maritimes buying up the remaining stock.

 

[karrie]

I don't think it's the lard because: (Crisco is shortening)

well that actually sounds like it's the lard that made her cookies hard alright.

 

[#juan]

That reminds me of another problem we had about 15 years ago. There used to be a Lantic Sugar refinery here in Saint John, which closed. They made their brown sugar with a different process; when they announced they were shutting down, many of the home bakers bought up every package of the brown sugar they could find, because everyone's gingerbread recipes were based on that brown sugar, and didn't work with the other type. People went all over the maritimes buying up the remaining stock.

I just found this out about ten years ago. Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added. If you have a decent food processor you can make brown sugar by drizzling molasses into white sugar in the processor while the processor is going until it reaches the colour you want. If I'm out of brown sugar, I can make three or four cups of it in about ten minutes.

 

[#juan]

At one time brown sugar was a stage of sugar refinement. Now just about all brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added.

 

[TenPenny]

At one time brown sugar was a stage of sugar refinement. Now just about all brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added.

That's the problem; when Lantic had the refinery in Saint John, they made brown sugar the proper way.