I have a recipe that is for a "Texas-Style Blueberry Cobbler" (site is paywalled) from America's Test Kitchen.

The recipe is as follows:

  • 4 tbsp butter in four pieces + 8 tbsp melted & cooled
  • 1-1/2 c sugar (10-1/2 oz)
  • 1-1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
  • 1-1/2 c all-purpose flour (7-1/2 oz)
  • 2-1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1-1/2 c milk

This makes a batter-style base (rather than the more traditional biscuit-style).

All we have on hand is half and half. In this usage, is it acceptable to replace the milk with some fraction of half and half cut with water?

This answer discusses something similar with cream. I've found sites that say it's possible to do this but I'm not sure how trustworthy they are. Plus, they seem to disagree... some say to cut the half and half with water, other say to just replace it and expect a richer outcome.


Take out 4 tbsp butter and add the 1.75 c half and half. That's what I'd do anyway. It's about the same amount of fat and adds a bit more liquid back in. Keep in mind that butter changes consistency depending on when it is put in or how it is applied, so it's possible this won't work so well if you have to do some whipping or something.
Do not add water. You'll lose out on flavor.


My guess is that cutting the milk is the better option, considering the amount of butter in this recipe, it surely does not seem like the purpose of the milk in it is to add fat (which is all half and half would really be doing over cut half and half). 1.5 cups of milk has around 4g of fat while the butter in this recipe has nearly 150g of fat!

  • I probably should have mentioned it but only the 8 tbsp goes into the batter.
    – Catija
    Jul 5 '15 at 14:57
  • still that is nearly 100g of fat, compared to the 4g in the milk. Half and half would add over 42g. It probably doesn't matter so much either way though. Jul 6 '15 at 10:21

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