Can ghee be used instead of butter in dessert recipes?

moved here from a comment:

Ghee does have a different aroma and consistency, so, depending on the use of it in the recipe (wether it is used for frying or in the frosting for example), it will quite likely change the final result.

So in some cases substituting butter with some neutral flavored oil or margarine might be better than ghee. Which, I know, might not help if ghee is all you've got.

Also wanted to include what @rumtscho adds in the comment above:

in recipes where the fat ratio is important, ghee (which is 100% fat) can ruin the ratio because butter is 83% fat.

And as to standards, they can be quite relative (making something that tastes slightly different doesn't necessarily ruin it) ... if you are making the desert for an indian audience, using clarified butter might taste quite normal =)

Ghee is basically clarified butter. If a dessert recipe calls for "butter" then it's probably not going to work. If it calls for cold butter cut in pieces... it definitely will not work. If a recipe calls for melted butter... you'll be ok.. use a touch less and add a splash of cream. Ghee is butter with the milk solids removed.

I used ghee in an icing recipe because I ran out of butter, and the texture was all wrong. Added a little milk after reading this and boom - the texture immediately improved. Some of the fat content separated, but I just poured it off and the icing was fine. I can recommend the combination of ghee and milk as a good substitution, at least for icings.

I am not a professional baker and am still learning but I bake almost every week. In my country ghee is a main ingredient in our houses, whether its made from clarifying butter at home or just buying it.

I use ghee in all my bakes, even in making caramel sauce, brownies, cheesecakes or cookies.

Just be careful what the recipe calls for. If it is cold cubes , then freeze it and then take it out after 15 min maybe and cut it just like butter. I the recipe asks for room temperature, then use it as it is.

It works everytime for me. For the taste part, if the ghee is home made then you have nothing to worry about. If you bought it ready just make sure it has a good not overwhelming taste and smell.

No, ghee cannot be used in place of butter, because ghee is clarified. This removes the water from the butter, which is a key component of butter when used in baking. The water evaporating and creating steam pockets gives a lot of foods their fluffy texture. The removal of the water would create a lot of issues in getting your desserts to come out right, even if the taste of ghee was similar to that of butter (which it is not)

I can't believe no one thinks Ghee tastes like butter. It tastes exactly like the fresh farm butter my grandmother used to use when I was growing up. Maybe slightly nuttier but not at all like any oil I have ever tasted. I can't say but think if the recipe calls for softened butter you could use equally I am almost sure but the rest I am not sure of. I know an earlier poster or two said that you can bake with it and I am sure you can there may need to be tweaks if it doesn't call for softened butter but according to the earlier post you can harden it in the fridge and use it has your cold butter in recipes calling for that.

You can bake with ghee as you would with butter. Like butter, ghee gets very hard when you put it in the refrigerator. Like butter, ghee gets nice and soft when you take it out of the refrigerator. Ghee lasts long than butter because the milk product is gone. Ghee has MORE fat than butter so the person who suggested you use butter and walk more has the information all wrong. You can use ghee in a microwave (but why would you use a microwave for anything) and in the oven. I think the poster who asked if margarine was being used instead of ghee was on to something. Go with the ghee. People in India bake with it all the time and you can find a truckload of websites and blogs written by Indians who use ghee in every way of cooking.

I have baked and cooked plenty of times with ghee, and I have made dozens of biscuits. Nothing wrong with it. Biscuits have the best flavor with ghee.

I used ghee added to brown sugar to make toffee. IT DID NOT WORK. The brown sugar didn’t congeal with the ghee so I had clear butter and a glob of brown sugar boiling separately in the pan. Never saw anything like it.

The point of using ghee for many people is to avoid dairy so adding milk is not solution for them. My daughter is dairy intolerant but because the milk solids are removed from ghee she does not react to it. Here in Australia the only other butter alternatives all contain hydrogenated vegetable oils like margarine so I do not want to use that. We used ghee in some gluten free shortbread we made the other day and they were delicious! Tasted just like shortbread should! Im searching to see if it would be ok for french macarons but as there seems to be much conjecture I might just have to try it and see. One site i read said it can tend to make things a little crispier. I didn't notice that with our shortbread. The brand we buy is just like softened butter when cool and melted butter when warm.