Cube of margarine?

[mackandme]

I want to make a boiled cookie recipe handed down by my husband's grandmother. It calls for "1 cube margarine," though I plan to sub in butter.

Does anyone have an idea how much a cube of margarine is?

Thanks.

[Robyn1007]

I want to make a boiled cookie recipe handed down by my husband's grandmother. It calls for "1 cube margarine," though I plan to sub in butter.

Does anyone have an idea how much a cube of margarine is?

Thanks.

I'd guess a stick.

[zwieback]

I've never heard of a cube of margarine, but my first thought would be a tablespoon. Would that sound like it would work in the recipe?

[VictoriaL]

I just had to respond...

Many years ago, I was making a recipe for cookies that my Gram had written on a card and given to me. I came across an ingredient:
"margarine the size of an egg"


I literally took a stick of margarine and shaped it to the size of a large egg (using a real egg as a model). Then my Mom told me that Gram meant to cut a stick of margarine to the length measurement of a egg.

Maybe that's what your recipe means, to cut a length of margarine equal to the other dimensions of the stick, or a "cube".

[Clover]

A cube of margarine is the same thing as a stick of margarine. A quarter pound. Half a cup. I guess it's not shaped like a cube, but then it's not shaped like a stick either. I grew up with the terminology "a cube of butter."

[Canice]

Funny, I never thought about the fact that a "cube" of butter is not a cube at all.
I guess it depends on the recipe and when it was written? If it's for a baked good it could be challenging, otherwise I'd wing it.

[peachesncream]

To me, a cube of margarine would be an amount of the stick that made a cube - about 2 tablespoons. Margarine has come in sticks for years and years.

I would do an Internet search for that recipe; you might find it or one very similar and it might list the actual amount of margarine or butter in tablespoons.

Another thing to do is to compare the amounts of flour, etc. in the recipe to fat. What would be a realistic amount? I am worried about the idea of using an entire stick of margarine in your recipe. I honestly don't think that's what was meant by a cube. (But I could be totally wrong!)

[Clover]

I think it's probably a regional difference, and maybe has changed over time. I think I'm more likely to call it a quarter pound of butter a cube than a stick because I've always heard it that way. I recognize stick as well, though. If we could see the recipe in question we could judge it better. If it were a regular cookie recipe, it would be a lot more likely to call for half a cup of butter than two tablespoons, but mackandme said it was a "boiled cookie recipe," and I have no idea what a boiled cookie is.

[margeslp]

Just had to investigate -- if you google, most agree it is a stick. I also googled boiled cookies and they call for 1 stick butter

[VictoriaL]

I've always taken things too literally...

[sparrowgrass]

Margarine (and butter) used to come in different shapes of sticks. I don't remember where I lived when I saw it, but some packages were in 4 square patties instead of 4 long sticks. That would be a cube to me.

[Clover]

Margarine (and butter) used to come in different shapes of sticks. I don't remember where I lived when I saw it, but some packages were in 4 square patties instead of 4 long sticks. That would be a cube to me.

Even now they are different shapes in different parts of the country. I don't know where the geographical dividing line is, but in the East butter comes in long skinny sticks, and in the West it's short fat sticks.

[mackandme]

Thanks for all your responses, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who takes things literally. I did end up googling and found lots of very similar recipes for boiled cookies. I had never heard of them. But they did generally call for a stick of butter.

Will probably make this this weekend as it does not require turning the oven on.

[jmarie]

I'm curious....What kind of boiled cookie is this? Do the ingredients include, Hershey's powered cocoa, sugar, butter, can of cream, peanut butter, oats, vanilla?

[mackandme]

The recipe includes 1/2 cup milk, 2 cups sugar, 1 cube margarine, 3 TBS cocoa, 3 cups quick oatmeal, 1 cup chopped nuts and 1 tsp vanilla. No peanut butter. Most of the boiled cookie recipes I found on the internet did include peanut butter, though.

It says to mix milk, sugar, margarine and cocoa in a pan, bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Add oatmeal, nuts and vanilla, mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper.

My mother-in-law hasn't been able to get the recipe to work the way her mother did. The cookies end up spreading out. Don't know if that's a humidity issue (her mother lived in the Central Valley, Calif., but she now lives in Florida) or if the cookies need to be put in the fridge to cool so they set up before spreading out.

[LeaHamm]

My mother-in-law hasn't been able to get the recipe to work the way her mother did. The cookies end up spreading out. Don't know if that's a humidity issue (her mother lived in the Central Valley, Calif., but she now lives in Florida) or if the cookies need to be put in the fridge to cool so they set up before spreading out.

I've never heard these called Boiled Cookies. I've always known them as: No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies {quite a mouthful - no pun intended }. I have only had the spreading problem when the mixture hasn't been boiled long enough. If boiled too long the mixture will harden before they all can be dropped onto waxed paper.