Take the 2-minute tour ×  I have been replacing half (half a
cup) of the butter called for by some cookie recipes with half a
cup of shortening and have noticed that some of these cookies
rise less than I expect.  Is there any difference in rising
power of butter compared to shortening? If so, how do I
counteract that difference?  share|improve this question
Related: cooking.stackexchange.com/q/880/2001 –  Sobachatina May
27 '11 at 1:04 add comment  1 Answer  up vote 6 down vote
accepted  To answer this question we should turn to the oracle: 
http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/season3/Cookie/CookieTranscript.h
tm  The relevant quote is:  "Nothing affects a cookie's texture
more than the melting characteristics of its fat. Butter has a
sharp melting point meaning that, uh, just a few degrees
difference between a solid and liquid states. So since
conversion occurs at a relatively low temperature, the resulting
batter spreads prior to setting."  The problem is that
shortening melts at a higher temperature than butter