I wouldn't. Margarine is not pure butter or a substitute for any other pure shortening; it is mixed with all kinds of extras and additives and unless you are using a recipe specifically designed for margarine, and preferably a particular brand of margarine, your cookies could end up disappointing. Just use butter, or half-and-half butter and lard for cookies, short pastry and cakes and the end result will be great.
Remember, butter-substitute spreads are still, generally speaking, mostly fat and certainly no 'healthier' than pure shortening.
Substitutes for shortening are butter and margarine in sticks. Use the same amount as called for in your recipe. Keep in mind, plain shortening will NOT be as flavorful as butter or margarine. Do not use soft margarine in a tub as it contains too much water.
You can use Butter, Margarine, or Lard. These will give you about the same result as using vegetable shortening. Vegetable shortening is pure fat so lard will be a good substitute, butter and margarine have water in them you will need to use a little more and if used in baking they won't produce a crust that is as flaky as shortening would. If you are looking for a healthier/low fat substitution try googleing food substitutions for vegetable shortening. Using certain fruits like apple sauce, bananas and many others as a substitution can work but a very very lesser degree.Clarification:Using butter, margarine or lard will not generally give the same results as using shortening. Shortening is made from hydrogenated vegetable oil, such as soybean oil, butter is made from cream, and margarine is made from various fats and liquids.In some recipes that call for butter or shortening, you can use margarine, but since margarine has a higher water content than butter or shortening, it's not a good idea to use margarine in foods that require a crisp, flaky texture, such as pie crust.
Because margarine, like butter has a burn/smoke point. Shortening will not burn/smoke like margarine when the heat hits it.
Of course you can make cookies with margarine instead of shortening, I do it with all my cookies. When you use margarine you don't need to grease your baking pans, and I think the cookies come out more tasty.
In cakes: Increase the amount called for by 15% and use vegetable shortening or non-dairy margarine.
You can use butter or margarine as a substitute for Crisco shortening in this recipe.
For most cookies you can't use oil in place of shortening.
Butter/margarine.
Butter or margarine can be used instead, adding a couple of extra tablespoons per cup of shortening called for in a recipe.
A common nondairy ingredient to use in cookie recipes in place of butter is shortening. It will change the texture of the cookie, usually cookies with shortening will be a little chewier than cookies with butter.
You can safely substitute liquid oil for solid shortening in baking ONLY if the recipe calls for the shortening to be melted first. You can substitute butter or margarine for shortening ( 1 cup + 2 Tbsp for each cup of shortening). You can also substitute 1/2 cup applesauce or prune puree for each cup of shortening.
yes you can use margarine, but a better replacement would be lard.