This Is The Fastest Way To Get Room Temperature Butter

None of us are perfect. We live busy lives, rushing around from one thing to another. It is to be expected, therefore, that occasionally we might forget to take our butter out of the fridge in a timely manner when preparing for a baking sesh. Oh the frustration! It can be so annoying to gear up for some good old-fashioned home cooking, apron on and oven mitts at the ready, only to discover a hard pack of butter, overlooked, sitting solidly in the fridge. Don't worry though, there are techniques that can remedy the situation and keep your cooking time on track with few delays.

One much-loved technique is to simply bash the heck out of your stick of butter (after placing it between two pieces of parchment) with a handy rolling pin until your butter is soft.

If you're not in the mood for a light workout, however, we suggest another method that requires less physical strength:

Cut however much butter you need, and place it on a plate. Fill a glass (one that will fit over the butter) and fill it with very hot water. Leave the glass for a minute or two, so the glass itself becomes very warm, then quickly pour out the water, dry the glass and cover the butter with the still-warm glass. After a couple of minutes the butter beneath the glass should be nicely room temperature and perfect to use in any of these 101 best cookie recipes.