Butter contains 80 percent fat and 20 percent water, which creates steam during baking and gives biscuits a light, moist and flaky texture. Shortening, on the other hand, is purely fat with no water content, resulting in a slightly denser, softer and crumblier biscuit.
If you’re using butter instead of shortening, it’s important to remember that these two fats behave differently, so you may need to adjust your recipe or handling of the dough as necessary. The downside to using butter instead of shortening is that it has a lower melting point, so you may need to move more quickly when preparing the dough. In addition, chilling the dough from time to time may help make handling a bit easier.