Can you substitute butter for solid vegetable shortening in a recipe?

No you cannot.

To further clarify, butter contains more liquid than shortening. It also has a lower melting point, which will make baked goods (such as cookies) crispier and flatter. Shortening will allow the cookies to be fluffier and lighter. If you're looking for flavor, add butter flavoring in small amounts so as not to alter the liquid content in the recipe.

However, I just read this: "

The answer is a qualified "yes". We have substituted butter in many of our recipes and believe butter makes a tastier, healthier cookie. (Shortening and margarine are made with hydrogenated fat and most of us would like to reduce hydrogenated fat in our diets.)

Your cookies will turn out a little differently if you substitute butter for shortening. Shortening makes a cookie that is crisp on the edges and chewy in the middle. Butter makes a cookie crisper throughout. Because of the moisture in butter, cookies made with butter tend to spread more during baking.

If you need to, you can counteract some of the spread and crispness in the butter cookie with the addition of an extra egg. Whole eggs or egg yolks give cookies a cake-like texture. So try your favorite recipe with butter instead of shortening and bake a few of the cookies. If they turn out too crisp or too flat, add an egg and try again."

From The Prepared Pantry's Cooking tips at

http://www.preparedpantry.com/printable2.html