A number of folks are suggesting coconut oil - my question to you (intended seriously) is how do you compensate for flavor loss? I've made quite a number of cookies in my day, and both butter and margarine add a certain richness. Recently, I've been making cookies for a friend with both a dairy and soy allergy, so used coconut oil. The look and texture was just fine but the taste was noticeably "flatter" -- missing a certain richness. Kind of "blah" overall. So I'm curious, what do you do to compensate for this lack of richness, or is it just par for the course and something that we have to accept?
Cold-pressed palm oil (non-hydrogenated) is similar to coconut and it will work well but it's not as tasty as butter. A neutral liquid vegetable oil (like canola or corn) can be substituted in most situations using a third cup oil for every half cup butter; the cookies will be chewier than those made with butter or palm or coconut (results will vary depending on type of cookie, I like it for Tollhouse-style chocolate chip because I like them soft and chewy sometimes).
margarine will work well if you're not bothered by the reasons people cite to avoid it. If you're using coconut oil, you make get an oilier cookie with a slightly different texture. But there are many vegan recipes that use it.
I frequently substitute butter with non-dairy margarine (Mother's brand is best) when baking cookies. It may not be as good as butter in a side-by-side comparison but on their own, they taste very good
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http://thespicedlife.com/2011/05/rupertos-tender-flaky-cookies-a-great-dairy-free-cookie-to-satisfy-shortbread-cravings.html
See for example these cookies:
https://www.google.com/search?q=lard+the+spiced+life+cookies+spanish&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari
(serious question, if it's for vegan / dietary concerns then this will affect the answer)
Butter is usually the best option in cookies - flavour, chemical behaviour - so anything else tends to be a compromise.