I have banished shortening from my kitchen (along with margerine and other highly processed oils) because it is bad for our health. Lard is one alternative for shortening. Pie crust made with half-lard/half-butter turns out flaky and tasty. (The idea that lard is bad is old, erroneous information.) However, I have found another good substitute--coconut oil. I replaced the shortening with coconut oil in the cake part of my great-grandmother's recipe for crumb cake. (The crumbs are made with butter.) The cake is moist, the crumb is as good as the shortening version, and the taste is great. I also use coconut oil to grease my cake and bread pans. I haven't tried it in pie crust yet, but I will this week. Perhaps the test kitchen folks at KA would do some comparisons with coconut oil.

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