Many dessert recipes require softened butter, which is essential to achieve the proper texture and density in baked goods, but if the butter is too cold, it won't correctly cream with the other ingredients, like sugar. If the butter is too soft, your cookies could spread too much, or your cakes could be dense. So, how to soften the butter quickly?

First, according to Food Network's video, you need to fill a drinking glass with hot tap water, tall enough to accommodate the length of a stick of butter, about 7 inches. Allow the glass to get warmed through for approximately five minutes, then pour out the water, before taking a stick of butter and placing it standing up on your countertop.

Invert that warmed drinking glass over the stick of butter and allow it to rest for about two minutes. After that, the butter should be soft enough to use in your recipe — in just seven minutes instead of an hour the old-fashioned way.