Why Butter Is Superior To Margarine For Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Mix

Alongside some of the best simple pleasures in life are classic sugar cookies. A good sugar cookie is soft yet crisply dense and has a rich, buttery flavor that complements the sweetness of the baked dough. Its straightforward nature makes it the perfect canvas for frosting the best Christmas cookies, or eating warm just out of the oven.

When opting for the ease of a sugar cookie mix to make the classic treat, however, you may see that some boxed and bagged mixes call for the choice of adding either softened butter or margarine. While margarine can be a great substitute for those avoiding animal products, if you don't have any dietary restrictions and want to get the best flavor and texture for your cookie, stick with butter. Since sugar cookie mix only contains a relatively short list of ingredients that typically includes flour, sugar, and salt, choosing butter as the fat is key in delivering a flavorful cookie that is sure to please. 

Butter and margarine are both solid fats at room temperature, but the two differ in what they deliver to a cookie recipe. In baking cookies, some of fat's key functions are to add tenderness, flavor, and moisture to the recipe. Compared to margarine, adding butter to your sugar cookie mix will ensure depth of creamy, nutty flavors, and will also result in a perfectly chewy cookie that melts in your mouth as you savor each bite.

Butter is a distinctly rich animal-based fat. If you've ever tried making browned butter, you know that when exposed to heat and cooked, it develops deep, toasty flavors that are deliciously decadent and complex.

Margarine, on the other hand, is made from plant-based oils like corn or soybean oil, which have been hydrogenated to turn the liquid oil into solid fat, and are typically formulated to have similar compositions to butter (notably, a stick of margarine must be at least 80% fat, just like butter). However, since the vegetable oils used in margarine are usually flavorless because they've been refined, and flavor compounds are oftentimes added to mimic butter's taste, margarine's flavor simply does not stack up to the genuine dairy product. This is undeniably important when making store-bought sugar cookies, where the flavor of butter shining through is really key.

Also crucial to the texture of a sugar cookie is butter's melting point (typically ranging from 90 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit), which creates its mouthwatering sensation. Margarine typically has a slightly higher melting point (94 to 98 degrees Fahrenheit) and doesn't melt as readily when you take a bite, which is why baking cookies with the plant-based fat can sometimes leave that waxy mouthfeel and aftertaste on your tongue.

When presented with the choice, always bake with real butter when it comes to sugar cookies. Some packaged sugar cookie baking mixes call for whisking softened butter and eggs with the mix to incorporate. While this typically does the trick, to get a baked dessert with a denser chew and all the flavor that butter has to offer, you can try melting the butter in the microwave or on the stove top, then letting it cool down before adding it to your sugar cookie mix.

It's also wise to use unsalted butter, since most sugar cookie mixes already include salt in the blended dry ingredients. Once you scoop out and form your sugar cookie dough, it also helps to give it some time to chill (30 minutes will do) to really develop the buttery cookie flavor and allow the cookies to set, so they don't overly spread out when you transfer them to the oven to bake.

To seriously elevate the play of richly sweet flavors in your sugar cookies, customize your boxed mix by adding in orange or almond extract to the dough. Once baked, cool your sugar cookies, then cover them in luscious traditional buttercream frosting and sprinkles. For an inventive twist on the classic, dip your cookies in homemade chocolate ganache and sprinkle them with nonpareils and candied walnuts.