This Easy Hack Brings Butter Up To Room Temperature Fast
Is there anything more annoying to someone who is about to start baking than finding that they forgot to bring butter or eggs to room temperature? Because baking is so precise, not bringing butter or eggs to the proper temperature before starting could mess with the entire process. According to Bon Appétit, warming butter serves an important purpose — it makes it "whippable," which allows for it to be creamed with sugar and create "air pockets" to give certain pastries their light and airy nature.
But if you've forgotten to leave it out until you were just ready to get started, the waiting process on butter-warming is not only excruciatingly slow, akin to watching water boil, but it sets the whole process back, from baking to cooling to decorating. That's precious time you may not get back, or couldn't afford to waste. In fact, it could be the difference between baking and not baking at all on a given day.
But fear not! There are some quick fixes even for the most cooled and solidified of butters, and Food Network – of course — has a great one.
Help me fix it!
One of Food Network's handy baking tricks is the perfect hack for bringing that recently refrigerated butter to room temperature in a hurry: "cut cold butter into super-thin slices." Seems simple, but the science checks out. This will definitely speed up the warming process, as the smaller elements can warm individually instead of being cooled by the larger mass of a brick of butter.
Sally's Baking Addiction offers an alternate method for those afraid of cutting their fingers on a knife or grater. She suggests heating two cups of water in a microwave-safe cup or bowl (a measuring cup kills two birds with one stone) for two minutes. After it's sufficiently heated, quickly remove the water from the cup/bowl and replace it with the butter, placing it back in the microwave for about 10 minutes — although it may make sense to check on this every minute-and-a-half or so to make sure it doesn't melt instead of just warming.
Bigger, Bolder, Baking's method is similar. It involves filling "a large, deep bowl with warm water," then placing "your stick of cold butter in a slightly smaller bowl and submerge the bowl in the bowl of warm water. Wait just 5-10 minutes depending on how cold your butter was," and voilà.
However you decide to warm your butter for baking, you can take comfort in knowing that with these tips, it won't take the two or so hours it typically otherwise would.