<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> Earlier today I requested information on how to bake for a person that is dairy free, soy free, and gluten free. So many people responded so quickly. I did not include all the exact responses but all the suggestions are covered in these that I am quoting. I have not been to the store yet, but surely I can find some of these items. I also included a few other comments because I figure there are other celiacs who will be interested. Thanks to you all. -------------------------------- Try Spectrum Organic Shortening at your local health food store. It's made from palm oil (the safe version) and while it won't lend any good flavor like Crisco butter-flavor shortening, your friend can enjoy it safely. You're right, be careful with lite margarines. They have so much water that they don't work well in most baking. ----------------------------------------- MOther's margarine is an all corn product....check out other kosher products. I think Willow Run is also soy free. That one you can find in health food stores. There is an all natural crico like veggie shortening in health food stores. If you have a Whole Foods near you, check them out....I have found they have the best selections of products. ----------------------- Mother's margraine made for Passover is the only soy free margarine. Regular Mother's margarine has soy. ------------------------------ Smart Beat or Smart Squeeze liquid is g/f, c/f no fat and tastes good. ----------------------------------------- Many people who are cf/sf stock up during Passover (coming up soon) for the year, since there are cf/sf margarines that are available during this time. (Stores catering for Passover are starting to get their stock in as we speak and when it is gone, it is gone.) I've not done so, but "Mother's" is a brand name that comes up. On a day to day basis, there really isn't anything commercially available that I've found. ------------------------------------- You might think about using unsweetened applesauce. I have heard that it takes the place of margarine or oil. --------------------------------------------------- Try coconut oil (available online) or palm oil. Both are hard at room temp, and better for you for cooking. Palm oil is available at Trader Joes, as "trans fat free shortening". ----------------------------------------------------- I use Oil Olive and Safflower oil. For shortning I use Palm Oil, I use Ener-G Foods bulk Palm Oil and Spectrums Palm Oil, sold in Health Food Stores. ---------------------- I know you said that you did not want to try oils but for future reference...replacing the butter in recipes with oil tends to work better in a lot of gf baking. It help with the moisture and reduces the grainy, crumbly problem. I am not familiar with dairy free stuff but you could try --------------------------------- what about lard... it makes the best cookies.. biscuits the GFCF diet there is a website by that address. Good luck. ----------------------------------------- I am on a gluten free, soy free, dairy free, corn free diet and I find it is not possible on this type of a diet to bake recipes requiring a "hard" cooking fat since none are free of all of these ingredients. I bake muffins, breads, and scones using only organic Canola oil and they always turn out fine, though I tend to bake only recipes that are quite low in fat. My date/maple muffins come out quite wonderfully with egg replacer, rice milk, and oil in a recipe that calls for butter or margarine, milk, and eggs. So I think the oil can substitute for muffin and cake-like products, but probably not for something like cookies. ------------- That should about do it, folks. *Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the Celiac List*