Easy Tips to Soften Butter
Butter. One of the key ingredients in practically all baking recipes and an ingredient that could potentially make your cake or cookies a success or a complete failure. The most annoying thing about butter is that it needs to be just the right temperature and texture for the recipe to work out. A stick of butter that’s too hard and cold will result in a bad combination with sugar and a flat cake instead of a fluffy one. In contrast, a stick of butter that’s too warm or soft will spread unevenly and almost liquidly over the pan. Check out these useful tips to soften butter like a pro.
Place a hot bowl over it.
A very recommended method to soften butter is to place a crystal bowl in the microwave to heat it, then take it out and place it on top of your butter stick. You can place the butter stick on a plate so when it starts to soften it doesn’t go all over the place. It’s a useful tip but doesn’t make up for the softest butter ever!
Place it on warm water.
Another great technique to soften butter is to place it on a zip-lock bag and then dip the bag in a bowl of tepid water. (What is tepid water? A bit warmer than room temperature) About 7 cups of water will do, then just dip the stick of butter and keep submerging it on and off until you notice it starts to soften.
Grate it.
This is one of the most effective methods tried by experts because it takes about 5 to 10 minutes to complete and you have your butter soft and ready to use. Simply take your stick of butter and start grating it using a large grater where you can gather the butter. This is an almost completely mess-free technique that you can use.
Use the stand mixer.
Start by cutting your stick of butter into several spoonfuls and place them all in the stand mixer using the paddle attachment. Put the mixer on low or medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes. Stop the mixer to scrape the butter from the sides of the bowl and keep mixing for another 3 minutes. The butter will then be ready to use.
Pound it.
Probably the most recommended method to soften butter and get it just ready to use for your cookies and cake is giving it a good pounding. Take the butter out of its packet and place it inside of a plastic bag. Then take out your rolling pin and start beating the stick of butter with all your strength. Keep beating until it reaches the desired texture and temperature.
Wait for it to soften naturally.
This is probably the most annoying of methods but usually the most effective one. If you want your butter to reach the ideal temperature all you have to do is place it outside of the refrigerator and let it sit for about an hour and a half.
6 simple methods that will forever change the way you use butter and how you incorporate it into your cooking and baking recipes. Which one will you try first?