The objective of this study was to check the potential for determining the quality and establishing the usefulness of shortenings in making shortcrust pastries on the basis of solid fat content (SFC). The scope of study involved the determination of SFC contents in five shortenings using a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. Mechanical properties of raw dough and baked shortcrust pastries were determined applying an instrumental method. Furthermore, the fatty acid composition of fats used to make those shortcrust pastries was determined as was the sensory quality of those pastries. It was found that when using SFC, it was possible to determine the nutritional quality of fats and to verify their technological value in the production of shortcrust pastries. Based on the high SFC values in shortenings, a conclusion can be drawn that those pastries represent a low nutritional value. On the other hand, a low SFC value is evidence of large amounts of cis isomers including essential fatty acids (EFA). Based on the correlation between the SFC and mechanical properties (defined by the instrumental method) of semi-finished and ready-made products, it was verified that, at a temperature of 20 °C, the content of SFC exceeding 3 % and below 39 % facilitates the production process of shortcrust pastries and guarantees their proper hardness. As regards the texture, the ready-made products with SFC ranging from 33 to 36 % at 20 ºC were evaluated as the best. In the overall sensory evaluation, they were rated the best.