How to get butter to room temperature fast

[Becky]

There are so many recipes that require butter at room temperature so that it is soft when you work with it - for example when you are creaming together butter and sugar for a sponge.

I always have some butter in a dish which I keep outside of the fridge, but there isn't always enough for what I am making. I always seem to have a lot of butter in the fridge, so I've learned a handy little tip to get butter up to room temperature quickly without melting it... and it is so so simple...

...all you have to do is grate it! You need to hold it using the greaseproof paper it is wrapped in otherwise it melts all over your hand.

I've heard another tip that works well - cut the butter into cubes and put them into a bowl of warm water - I've not tried this myself though.

 

[Soliloquy]

Interesting! I've always softened butter in the microwave, but then you run the risk of accidentally melting it. This just might work.

 

[Becky]

My husband had a bit of a shock when I did this the other day - I was in the kitchen baking, and he saw the recently used grater on the side... and picked off what he thought was cheese... and instead had a bite of butter! Yuck!

 

[limcid]

You can use your microwave to soften it. Keep it inside the wrapper and use the defrost settings to keep from melting or cooking it.

 

[Becky]

I never seem to get it right when I use a microwave, even on the defrost setting! The Oatmeal has a cartoon for what always seems to happen to me:

 

[Soliloquy]

Thanks for the infographic! Now if I was smart I'd figure out the optimal time for microwaving butter in my microwave and write it down somewhere for future reference.

 

[Mylexia91]

Grate butter?! That sounds genius! I didn't realise this would work. What I usually do is put it in the microwave for a few seconds, or cut it up into cubes and leave it for a while. It's such a pain when you realise you've forgotten to take the butter out of the fridge when ready to make a cake.

 

[Happyflowerlady]

I like the idea of grating butter, and it seems to me that it would work really well. I have tried the microwave softening, and it always melts on me, and when I want to leave it out to soften, sometimes I do forget it, so I have tried just chopping it into little pieces so it would soften easier. The grating seems like it would do a much better job.

 

[ACSAPA]

Thanks for the tip. I always accidentally melt butter when I microwave it and them it ends up liquefied. I don't know why I never thought of grating butter.
If you can grate hard cheese of course you should be able to grate butter.

 

[Becky]

It works really well - just make sure you don't hold it in your fingers, wrap greaseproof paper around it instead

 

[jeanne90]

I think it is a brilliant idea. My usual way is to slice my butter and put them into a double boiler and wait for it to soften but that requires a lot of work compare to your method of grating it. After this I am going to try your method. Thanks for sharing it here.

 

[Dorothy]

Those are some really good ideas to bring butter to room temperature fast and I might give then a try, but for right I don't have to worry about the butter getting to room temperature because it has been so hot and since I don't have a/c in the kitchen or living and dining rooms, all I do is set it out and in no time it is ready to use...

 

[LivetoErr]

That's a great tip since we have to keep it in the fridge since it's so warm here. I too microwave but I got used to the soften setting on my mother in laws microwave. Now I have my no frills microwave and keep messing it up. That Oatmeal gif will be forever etched in my brain now too, thanks.

 

[cmckinney01]

I like the idea of grating butter. I used to melt butter in the microwave but gave that idea up. I always left the butter in too long, and it turned into liquid.

 

[Lacey]

I always use the microwave to soften my butter. It is just the easy way to do it and it seems like the fastest way as well. I really find myself melting it too and so I have to watch it so that it doesn't melt.

 

[OhioTom76]

I just saw them do this on The Chew, and it sounded like a really clever idea. Thank you for sharing! This would also really come in handy if you wanted to make a quick compound butter to go over steaks. Just grate the butter, throw in your herbs, onions, garlic, whatever. Mix it all back up and form it into a log on some wax paper and wrap it up and throw it back in the fridge. It would probably cool and firm up a lot faster as well vs. waiting for the butter to get to room temp completely.

 

[torreyy]

There are so many recipes that require butter at room temperature so that it is soft when you work with it - for example when you are creaming together butter and sugar for a sponge.

I always have some butter in a dish which I keep outside of the fridge, but there isn't always enough for what I am making. I always seem to have a lot of butter in the fridge, so I've learned a handy little tip to get butter up to room temperature quickly without melting it... and it is so so simple...

...all you have to do is grate it! You need to hold it using the greaseproof paper it is wrapped in otherwise it melts all over your hand.

I've heard another tip that works well - cut the butter into cubes and put them into a bowl of warm water - I've not tried this myself though.

I have been doing this to my butter for a while, not for baking though, just for my toast. I hate the little square shapes left on my toast from the butter and since I like my toast 'just barely' toast to begin with, it's quite annoying when the butter doesn't melt. Oh and no, I still make my toast the old fashioned way...the oven. I have a toaster but it just doesn't cut it for me.

 

[True2marie]

The only way to get butter to room temperature fast is through a microwave. Heat for 15 seconds. Then, of course, you can always purchase spreadable butter for the purposes of cooking. Darigold is a good product.

 

[xwolfiex13x]

What I like to do is microwave it. Instead of leaving it on one side, I like to do 5 seconds and then turn the butter over. I do this until it is soft. By flipping the butter over, the heat is not as concentrated on just one side. I have noticed that I rarely ever go too far with the butter and make it melt all over the place. I'll have to try the cheese grater method! It seems quite interesting!