Butter vs Margarine & recipe for Cranberry Walnut Scones

If you read some of my recipes you will see that I cook with olive oil, canola oil and butter a lot of the time. I prefer them over vegetable oil, margarine and shortening because they are more pure, I know what's in them, they taste better and enhance the flavor of foods.

Olive oil helps lower LDL, raises HDL and lowers total cholesterol levels. It may also help blood sugar control and benefit insulin levels. And while butter does contain animal fat (saturated fat), which may contribute to clogged arteries, it also helps your body absorb other nutrients in foods. In addition, I believe that if you have a well balanced diet including lots of fiber, fresh fruits & vegetables, omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil in moderation, they will help protect your body from whatever bad effects butter (eaten in moderation) may do to your body.

Margarine on the other hand contains trans-fats among other things, which causes cancer and raises your risk of getting cancer by 5 times, it triples your chance of getting coronary heart disease, raises LDL cholesterol while lowering HDL cholesterol, it also decreases immune and insulin response in your body. It's another laboratory made food, I say skip it!

Shortening is also a trans-fat and you don't want that in your diet. As far as vegetable oil, you don't know what kind of vegetables were used, and more than likely it was made from corn, plus who knows what else. Again, skip it.

I'll take my chances by limiting my cholesterol intake rather than risking cancer and heart disease. Everything in moderation!

Cranberry Walnut Scones

2 c flour
¾ c sugar
1 Tbl baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/8 tsp nutmeg
½ - ¾ c dried cranberries or 1 c fresh cranberries
½ c walnuts, chopped
½ tsp vanilla
2/3 c milk
1/3 c butter

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and nutmeg. With a fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until coarse crumbs form. Add cranberries and walnuts, stir.

Add vanilla to milk and add to flour mixture with fork. Stir until mixture forms a soft dough – do not over mix.

Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface and knead lightly 10 times. With floured rolling pin, roll out dough to 3/4” thickness. Cut dough into triangles, place 1” apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake at 450 degree oven 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately. Makes approximately 12 scones.

Nutritional Data
Calories 272
Total Fat 9 g
     Saturated Fat 4 g
     Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 15 mg
Sodium 259 mg
Total Carbohydrates 44 g
     Dietary Fiber 2 g
     Sugars 14 g
Protein 5 g
Vitamin A 3%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 10%
Iron 12%

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