How to Soften Butter
Learn how to soften butter quickly!
Why soften butter?
When baking, recipes typically call for room temperature butter for a couple of reasons. The main reason a recipe may call for softer butter is that it is much easier to beat and produces a fluffier product. When mixing ingredients such as butter and sugar, you create little pockets of air in between the ingredients. These air pockets are crucial in the process of baking because they expand from the heat of the oven, allowing the final product to rise better. If your butter is soft, the butter will be much more pliable, resulting in more air trapped due to the butter’s ability to incorporate air more evenly. Therefore, this leads to a much softer, and fluffier product from the increased number of air pockets. Overall, softening your butter isn’t just a wives’ tale; there is an actual scientific reason for doing it.
Note: The softness of butter directly relates to the temperature, and room temperature is typically when the butter is considered soft.
Why can’t you just microwave it?
As stated before, the softness of butter directly relates to its temperature, so you’re probably thinking, if temperature and softness have a direct relationship, why not just put the butter in the microwave for a few seconds? While it is possible to soften butter in the microwave, this is not recommended because it can be incredibly tricky to soften without melting. Microwaves also cook unevenly, leading to some spots of the butter being cold and others being warm. Overall, putting butter in the microwave to soften is very difficult to do properly and is not advised.
How to soften butter quickly
Materials needed:
- Tall-medium sized glass
- Butter
- Water
- Plate (optional)
- Paper towel (optional)
- Take a tall or medium sized glass and fill with boiling water.
- Drain water from glass.
- Take a plate and line it with a paper towel.
- Place stick of butter vertically on paper towel.
- Take your warm glass and place on top of butter, let it sit for 5-8 minutes.
The photo above shows how to set up the butter and glass as outlined in the steps.
Additional Tips
If you don’t have a glass, a mug or bowl works just as well! For smaller amounts of butter, reduce your container’s size and the time. If you can’t wait even 5 minutes, I suggest grating or cutting the butter into smaller pieces in order to help make it soften faster.
Using this method guarantees soft butter without melting it and is especially recommended for those who are in a hurry. This butter-softening trick is essential for baking cookies, cakes, and more. Make sure to try it out next time you forget to leave your butter out!