When I was a girl, cooking and baking alongside my mother, she taught me to measure shortening and margarine with a method seldom seen today. This, no doubt, is due in part to the fact that we now know how bad margarine and shortening are for us. But it's also due to the fact that most of our fats are packaged with measurements on them. Take, for example, a stick of butter, with its tablespoon and cup measurements printed on the wax paper covering it.

But there are still times I prefer the method my mother taught me (called the water displacement method). It's terrific for measuring homemade butter, or for all those smaller chunks of butter that end up in the fridge, or for measuring butter that no longer has its wrapping, or that was purchased in bulk, without measurements on the packaging. You can also use it to measure coconut oil (in it's solid state), peanut butter, or other solid nut butters. (This method won't work for runny nut butters.)

To use the water displacement method, fill a 2 cup liquid measuring cup with 1 cup of cold water. (It's important to use cold water so whatever you're measuring doesn't melt.) Now add whatever you are measuring to the cup, a bit at a time.

For instance, let's say you need 1/2 cup of butter. You've filled the measuring cup with 1 cup of cold water, and now you add butter until the water level reaches the 1 1/2 mark (as seen in the photo above). That means the measuring cup contains 1 cup of water AND 1/2 cup of butter.

Remove the butter, shaking off the water, and add it to your recipe. As an added bonus, this measuring method makes for easy clean up; little or no butter sticks to the measuring cup.

Tip: Be sure that whatever you're measuring is totally immersed in the water. If you're measuring a lot of an item (say, 1 cup or more), you'll need a larger measuring cup and more water - say 2 cups of water, instead of one.