390210 Tue Apr 10 09:07:22 -0700 2007 28 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 2466703 Trying to bake something special for my husband (we are newlyweds - 4 months) is tricky as he is lactose intolerant. We are great with soymilk and I use it for everything I can. But recipes that call for butter/margarine (as almost every bread/cake/cookie does) don't work very well for him. Is there such a thing as lactose free magarine or butter? If they can make lactose free ice cream (where I think they just add the lactase enzyme, right?) then surely butter is do-able? I hope? :) Tue Apr 10 09:07:22 -0700 2007 88776 Raeviola 1 2466734 I've seen soy butter and soy cream cheese, made for vegans usually but I don't know how well they work for baking. You can find a lot of butter free baked goods online, like Ellie Krieger from the Foodnet uses canola oil for all her baked goods. You could just look up vegan recipes as well. Good luck Tue Apr 10 09:16:18 -0700 2007 2466703 58855 digkv 1 2466803 Look for margarine labelled "pareve". This is a kosher certification that guarantees that the product contains no milk ingredients whatsoever. I don't know where you live, but in Canada Fleischman's Margarine is pareve and, when you can find it, Mother's Margarine. Look in a store that carries a lot of kosher products, if possible. Tue Apr 10 09:30:38 -0700 2007 2466703 12383 Nyleve 1 2466836 Earth Balance makes a good product. Tue Apr 10 09:35:27 -0700 2007 2466703 39874 chowser 1 2466838 there is Smart Beat & Smart Balance, and an Earth Balance- however, I've never baked with them, only used them as a spread. I think the best way for you to bake something is to follow a Kosher recipe - something that one would serve after a meat meal. Tue Apr 10 09:35:53 -0700 2007 2466703 11128 pamd 2 2468632 I've made biscuits with Earth Balance, because that was all I had besides an old can of Crisco one Sunday morning when the Biscuit Bug bit, and it worked just fine. I figure if you can sautée fish in it you ought to be able to bake with it! It does have a little more moisture content than really good butter, but I think no more than most stick margarine. Tue Apr 10 17:13:45 -0700 2007 2466838 11478 Will Owen 1 2466840 Ghee is lactose-free -- it's clarified butter, which means all the milk solids have been removed. I buy mine at my whole-foods co-op (the label says it's lactose-free and kosher), but you should also be able to find it at any Indian market. It's generally sold in a jar on the shelf, not in the refrigerated section. I don't know how it would work for baking, but it might be worth a try. It's definitely great for sauteeing, because it has that lovely buttery taste but a much higher smoking point than butter. The milk solids in butter are what can make butter scorch over high heat, but they're also the element that lets you make great brown-butter sauces, so there's the trade-off. Tue Apr 10 09:36:04 -0700 2007 2466703 12463 mcgeary 2 2467532 I'm not sure about lactose intolerance, but for a real milk allergy ghee isn't ok. And although it may be kosher, it definitely is not pareve (meaning neutral). Tue Apr 10 12:24:59 -0700 2007 2466840 12383 Nyleve 3 2468134 Right -- I believe the OP's husband is lactose intolerant, not milk-allergic. Tue Apr 10 14:41:31 -0700 2007 2467532 12463 mcgeary 4 2468181 Agreed. Tue Apr 10 14:53:34 -0700 2007 2468134 12383 Nyleve 2 4449049 Ghee may be technically lactose-free, but Indian food does a worse number on my digestive tract than icecream (shame, because I love it!) I wouldn't advise using ghee for somebody lactose-intolerant. But you can use vegetable oil or olive oil instead of melted butter for a lot of baking. Tue Feb 24 16:15:56 -0800 2009 2466840 67657 Kajikit 1 2467585 There are tons of recipes for cookies etc.made with shortening. It melts at a higher temperature than butter so your cookies will hold their shape better. Try Spectrum organic vegetable shortening. No trans fats. Comes from palm oil. Tue Apr 10 12:35:29 -0700 2007 2466703 77247 Romanmk 1 2468554 For baking, you can use vegetable shortening or lard in place of butter -- for instance, lard makes a really light and flakey pie crust. Or, simply find recipes that use oil rather than butter. For uses other than baking, you pretty much can substitute oil for butter in most thing. Or, for a real treat, try chicken fat (schmaltz) or duck fat. Tue Apr 10 16:54:53 -0700 2007 2466703 11028 DanaB 2 2468693 A lot of vegans use Earth Balance, it's really good. But it's salted. I've heard that Fleishman's unsalted margarine is dairy-free, but I have yet to see it in my local supermarket. Their salted margarine has dairy, but may be lactose free, make sure to read the label! Tue Apr 10 17:32:37 -0700 2007 2468554 10543 Dumkling 3 2470193 I cook for a milk allergic person and use Fleishman's unsalted and Mother's. Both contain no dairy. Unfortunately neither is easy to find. I have now ID'd stores that sell both but they aren't that convenient, so I buy a few pounds and freeze them. Fleishman's salted margerine is not dairy free: http://www.fleischmanns.com/products/original.jsp Compare with unsalted: http://www.fleischmanns.com/products/unsalted.jsp Check the labels. It's hard to bake with "spreads" as they contain a lot of water. Wed Apr 11 08:26:40 -0700 2007 2468693 43893 C. Hamster 1 2468851 I second the recommendation for Ghee, clarified butter. Unlike margarine, it's actually food. (Margarine is the one "food product" that cockroaches will not eat--for good reason.) Tue Apr 10 18:22:34 -0700 2007 2466703 11158 Leper 1 2469542 For a lactose-intolerant friend of mine, I make Tyler's Ultimate Cheesecake on FN Fleischmann's Margarine (I know people don't like marg, but I'm still pointing it out) is dairy free, and my buddy has no problems with it. I also use Tofutti Cream Cheese or the Soya brand. I sub the sour cream out with a local market's dairy-free brand. Boy does that cheesecake come out great every time, and even people without dairy problems not only love it, but don't ask *what's different?* Wed Apr 11 00:14:29 -0700 2007 2466703 15572 Emme 1 2470694 I use Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, found at Whole Foods, whenever I make something for my Dad due to his dietary restrictions. They work well, taste fine, and they are vegan. Wed Apr 11 10:24:50 -0700 2007 2466703 11327 lizzy 1 2470912 I realize it depends on the person but I am lactose intolerant and I don't have any problems with butter. Cheese or milk are very very unpleasant but butter seems to be okay. It is probably because of the low lactose quantity in butter compared to other milk products. I would certainly do a test before I recommended just making him something with it though :) Katerina http://dailyunadventures.com Wed Apr 11 11:11:44 -0700 2007 2466703 76054 daily_unadventures 2 3670747 I was just wondering about this. Butter has almost no lactose in it to begin with. I understand why milk-allergic people would have a problem with it, but I would think you would have to be *extremely* lactose intolerant to have a reaction to butter. Thu May 08 21:28:52 -0700 2008 2470912 138816 jlafler 3 4449622 I've never had a problem with butter. If he's really having issues, it's probably more of an allergy instead of an intolerance. Most people who are intolerant can have a certain amount of lactose before they have any negative reactions. Tue Feb 24 19:43:38 -0800 2009 3670747 107671 queencru 1 2488331 Do consider using CherryBrook brand of cake mix. The cake is absolutely delicious and has no diary (nor peanuts, eggs, wheat, or practically any allergen). I don't know how they make this cake taste so good, but I made it for my daughter's class because of peanut and diary allergy classmates and I was stunned at how delicous the cake is. The CherryBrook icing calls for Margarine and you have to use unsalted Fleishman's or some other dairy-free margarine. Good luck! Tue Apr 17 08:51:01 -0700 2007 2466703 92107 mswmom 1 3065639 Bryers makes a GREAT! lactose free Vanilla ice cream - in Sacramento area Raley's and Winco carry it. (http://www.icecreamusa.com/products/product.cfm?b=1&u=77567-22700) Also, Spring Hill Cheese Co. (http://www.springhillcheese.com) makes lactose free cheese and butter. Thu Oct 25 06:23:43 -0700 2007 2466703 136690 CoachB 1 3664765 You're right - if they can make lactose free ice cream, why not butter. But until that time we who are lactose intolerant do have choices. When I bake, I use Fleishman's unsalted margarine which is lactose free. cholesterol free and pareve, but you can use any lactose free margarine. I only use the stick margarine because it's easier to figure measuring. I've had great success with everything I've baked this way and it's impossible to tell it's margarine and not butter. In addition to that I use Splenda (granulated) which uses half the amount of sugar. My cakes and pies come out really delicious. Just the other day I baked an almond cake and it was sensational. So, take heart - you can make almost any recipe you find by substituting margarine. Wed May 07 09:16:17 -0700 2008 2466703 190281 JANIEWANIE 1 3664880 Another vote for Earth Balance. Also, there's a relatively new cookbook out called "Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World" that has lots of dairy (and egg) free cake and frosting recipes. I made my first recipe out of it last week and it was great--I plan to try other recipes, too. Wed May 07 09:45:16 -0700 2008 2466703 164177 Erika L 1 3670491 After living a childhood without dairy, yes, you can make almost any recipe you find by substituting margerine, but butter is better. I basically grew up on Fleischmann's margerine. I live in a family of lactose intolerants and dairy allergies, and no one really has a problem with butter use in baking. I don't think I'd make a buttercream frosting, but a stick of butter in a cake has not particularly hurt since my teens, and I am allergic to dairy. My big thing is moderation with my dairy intake: only a little a day (like 1/.2 of milk). Thu May 08 19:19:10 -0700 2008 2466703 161585 miss_bennet 1 3676219 I have done a fair bit of baking using Mother's unsalted. It really is a great product for most baked recipes. I use it in cakes, cookies, muffins, etc. That said, I probably would not use in a butter driven recipe like lemon curd or buttercream. I think I would probably find another recipe that isn't as reliant on butter. In rour case, instead of buttercream frosting maybe you could make a meringue. I would also definitely check out ppk.com (a vegan site with special attention to baking) and/or Isa's books like vegan cupcakes take over the world. Vegan baking will give you some great ideas and help you avoid any lactose issues. Sun May 11 05:57:37 -0700 2008 2466703 144174 Super Salad 1 4441335 I'd look into something with angelfood cake and fresh fruit. No fats in there - esp if it's home-made! Good luck! Sun Feb 22 09:57:52 -0800 2009 2466703 268959 Graceeh 1 4441426 im lactose intolerant and butter doesn't do anything to me. just use the regular stuff or take lactaid. Sun Feb 22 10:28:39 -0800 2009 2466703 227302 kirinraj