Butter vs Margarine

Last week Erica and I ran out of butter. We didn't realize how much our lives revolved around that delicious dairy delight(I've been practicing my alliterations). We drove to the grocery store and were a little upset at the prices. The grocery stores in Rexburg provide butter at $3.49 a package, and offers margarine at $.79.

I turned to Erica and proposed the idea to purchase margarine. At that moment I knew that the word "margarine" would never be spoken of again in our home.



For the next couple of days whenever Erica wasn't looking I was secretly looking up the differences between butter and margarine. The general consensus on the internet and among blogging mothers is that when margarine is in a baked good, the difference would be miniscule if at all noticeable. If the items were cooked, adding margarine was taboo and result in a much inferior product.

I decided to put this to the test. If anyone could pick out margarine in a baked good, Erica could...or could she?

Today Erica had class at 2. I was home cooking an early dinner for us because we both work this evening. The table was set and dinner was ready by the time she got home. We sat down for dinner and saw that the timer on the stove was about to go off. She wondered what was baking. I opened the oven door and she was amazed as to how thoughtful and loving I had been for making her mothers molten lava cakes.
They were so good! Erica even thought so. Erica and I spent the next ten minutes around the dinner table devouring the molten lava cakes and discussing amongst ourselves how wonderful they were.

I asked her what she would think if I told her these were made with margarine as oppose to butter. Her whole countenance changed. I've never been that scared before. I proceeded to back peddle and tell her that I was just wondering what she would think and that nothing was different with these molten lava cakes. I then reminded her that she thought they were delicious. She then told me that they weren't delicious and that she just didn't want to hurt my feelings. I think she lied.

I did infact use margarine. I used blue bonnet, which isn't just margarine. It's the cheapest margarine at the grocery store. Instead of spending $1.75 on butter for this recipe, we spent $0.40 on margarine.As Erica was leaving for work I asked her to tell me the truth of what she thought of the molten lava cakes. She said they were good but she still hated margarine. I'm not sure if she's trying to be nice or if she really thought that they were good. I think this calls for another experiment in the near future. I will keep you all posted.

I personally could not tell a difference in the taste nor the texture.