hey yall! i'm makin mini apple pies for my hubby and the recipe calls for LARD (eww). i'm wondering if there's a veg friendly substitute of the same consistency that yall know of? i'm trying to secretly convert him! oh, ****... who am i kidding... i will probably wanna sneak one in over the weekend!

How about crisco type products? I think crisco is vegetarian and then there is coconut oil which you can get unflavored. Another option is to look up a different crust recipe.

awesome! thanks for the quick reply!! i'll check into crisco... i never thought of that. i thought of using a different recipe but i think he loves this particular crust more than me!! lol

I have always usd Crisco.........back in the day when I actually made pies.

Crisco works fine in recipes that call for lard.

crisco, for the win!! thanks everyone!

Spectrum makes a non-hydrogenated vegetable shortening that is like Crisco, but is healthier IMO. It could be substituted for lard.

Crisco will probably make a much better pie crust than lard!

You can also make pastry with oil or margarine and of course butter - which is probably the most commonly called for fat I've seen. If you are looking to stay vegan, Earth balance makes a non-hydrogenated shortening that I have used, it works pretty well.

You can also make it crustless...

I peel and slice apples, add a little sugar free maple syrup, some cinnamon, chopped walnuts and raisins and place in individual ramekins and bake. You can add a crumble topping if you like - some oats, cinnamon. Or crush some plain Kashi Go Lean cereal.

I made apple turnovers yesterday and used vegetable shortening. The crust was delicious, light and flaky. Yum!

I'm not a huge Crisco fan, as hydrogenated oils worry me.

Speaking of that (and slightly off-topic), does anyone know how to make a good icing base w/o using Crisco? We have a (insanely unhealthy) delicious family recipe for icing that, when doubled, uses an entire stick of Crisco. My family loves it so I'd like if they could still have it when we have cakes, nix the hydrogenated oils. I've thought of just replacing the Crisco with more butter, but I think it's the Crisco that lets it hold up okay at room temperature so I'm afraid it'd get too liquidy at room temp otherwise. Gosh, I don't even know if I could make that recipe healthy. It's too full of.. nothing but non-healthy that if you changed EVERYTHING it'd alter the taste too much. =P This is the recipe:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Crisco (1/2 stick)
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 can large pet milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

Sorry for hijacking your thread; it was just a side thought. I'd say part of it depends on whether you need it to be super solid without support at room temp or if it has other ingredients that can make it stay solid on its own.

You should try Spectrum's Organic Shortening. The only ingredient is organic palm oil. It's still loaded with fat and calories, but no hydrogenated oils. I had to make cupcakes for a work function and used it to make vegan buttercream icing. It was exactly like using Crisco in texture, and the people at work loved it.

That's great stuff! While we're at it, if the recipe is already using 1 stick of butter and half a stick of Crisco, if I replaced the Crisco with your suggested palm oil shortening, what do you think would be the best replacement for butter in this particular recipe to maintain a similar taste in the end product? I know the obvious choice is non-hydrogenated margarine, but I'm wondering if there's any other substitutes that I could make that might already be in the pantry... If you have any ideas, that's fine, I was just curious.

I've taken several cake decorating courses and I can tell you that the reason Crisco is used is primarily to help any sort of decorations hold up - plus it's cheaper than butter.

As an alternative that will hold up for several hours at room temperature, try making fondant.

If you are just icing a cake and not doing any sort of fancy decorations that might melt off, using earth balance or butter with powdered sugar, vanilla and a bit of milk will work just fine. I think it tastes much better than Crisco recipes.

Crisco is really only necessary for wedding cakes or other high decorated cakes that will be sitting out.

I would imagine you could sub out 1/2 of the butter for Spectrum without altering taste. I'm really not a baker, so I'm probably not the best person to answer that question

Earth Balance is a good non-hydrogenated margarine, if you decide to use it. It's pretty easy to find in podunk, Indiana, I've heard that even Walmart in larger cities carries it. Like butter, it can be frozen until you're ready to use it, so you could get some and have it on hand when you need it.