Let me give you one good reason that I’m not giving up my day job and becoming a professional baker. Here’s a scenario to show you exactly why.

Let’s say you’re about to make your favorite recipe for the most amazing chocolate chip cookies and the recipe calls for one cube of softened butter.

Here’s what any good baker would do.

SCENARIO 1:

“Mmmmk. One cube of butter.”

(Gets out of fridge and places in microwave.)

“Ok. Power Level 10%.”

(Checks it and turns it every 8 seconds.)

“Great! Turned out perfectly.”

(Proceeds to make BEST chocolate chip cookies EVER. No, really. Best Ever.)

SCENARIO #2

“Mmmmk. One cube of butter.”

(Gets butter out of the fridge and places in microwave.)

“Ok, I know I should probably turn this on a lower power level and rotate it out every 8 seconds, but I’ll just hit that 1 minute button and I’ll remember to check it every five seconds! How could I possibly be spacey enough NOT to?! Ha!”

(Hits 1 minute button then procedes to do anything other than checking every 5 minutes (ie unloading the whole dishwasher, getting on Instagram for 5 minutes, changing the laundry etc.)

(5 minutes go by…)

“Oh crap! Dang it, I completely forgot about this dang butter and now it’s a puddle of melted butter. Eh, probably close enough to ‘softened’. Let’s see what happens.”

(Proceeds to make sad, very flat and spread out chocolate chip cookies.)

Optimistically shouts, “There’s always next time!”

Bless my little heart, if you give me some fabric to sew a dress or if you give me some paints, I will be 100% focused to the point where I can even struggle to sleep or eat all my proper meals until I complete my creative vision of whatever it may be. But when it comes to cooking and baking, while I enjoy them, I don’t have that level of passion. I can be easily distracted, to put it nicely, when it comes to the kitchen and thankfully my family is very patient with this.

Here are a few ways to properly soften butter the right way so your chocolate chip cookies turn out perfectly each and every time!

1. The first and best choice is simply to get it out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for 30 minutes. You know it is the right temperature when you can easily make an indent with your finger.

2. If you do use the microwave, you can set it to defrost, adjust the power to 10% and melt it for 10 seconds at a time. The microwave heats things quickly from the inside out so watch out or you will end up will a big pile of melted butter in a matter of seconds.

3. Another great way is to grate it so the smaller pieces will come to room temperature almost immediately. This is a fool proof way that works wonderfully!

4. Another popular way is to place it between two pieces of parchment paper and roll it flat with a rolling pin. When you roll it flat, it will be thin and warm up faster.

5. And lastly you can go the old-fashioned route and take out your frustrations and beat it with the rolling pin or cut it into small squares.

What is your preferred method of softening butter? Please share in the comments below :)