A maze of choices confronts consumers worried about trans fat, but experts say butter may be best.

Byline: Carl Macgowan

Nov. 8--In her baking, Lisa Basini has tried it all -- margarine, butter, Crisco.

Margarine? Bland and fatty. Crisco? Better than margarine, but not great for the waistline. Butter? It's a no-brainer.

"When I do a lot of my baking, if I'm making a crumb cake, for example, I'm going to use nothing but butter, because it's best for the taste," said Basini, who teaches wannabe chefs to cook through her Hauppauge company, The Baking Coach.

"If you want flavor and taste -- butter," she said. "There's no comparing it."

And now there's one more reason to love butter. It turns out butter isn't as bad for you as it used to be.

Responding to calorie-conscious consumers and government regulators, butter-makers have given their product an image makeover.

Consumers trying to pick a simple bar of butter at the supermarket are confronted with a dizzying array of products with marketing buzzwords hinting at health benefits galore:

Salted. Unsalted. Nonhydrogenated. Butter with olive oil, or canola oil.

Buyers are left to make…