2 Simple Tricks to Soften Cold, Hard Butter In a Hurry

Most of us (except Rach's mom!) keep butter in the fridge or freezer — so when a baking recipe (like these Brown Butter-Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches) calls for room temperature butter, we often find ourselves in a bind.

(Because who wants to sit around and wait?!)

BUT thanks to culinary team member and Rach's resident baking expert, Grant Melton, not anymore!

All you have to do with that *rock solid* butter? Grate it with a box grater!

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"That way, [it] will come to room temperature really, really fast," the baking pro says.

GENIUS!

"Whenever you make a cake, you always want to use room temperature butter," Grant explains. "If you use cold butter, you're going to have a really lumpy batter."

No excuses for that anymore, everyone!

P.S.: This tip also works really well for buttering your toast!

Now, Grant isn't the only culinary team member with a butter-softening trick. Food stylist Sarah Rhodes uses the hot water glass method.

All you have to do is get a pint glass that can withstand heat (that's important!) and pour slightly cooled boiling water in it. Let it sit for 30 seconds in the glass, pour it out and then encase your stick of butter in the glass to soften it. (Timing depends on how soft you want your butter to be, but Sarah kept hers in the glass for 20 minutes and it was perfectly spreadable.)

It's like a sauna for the butter, Rach points out! How smart is that?

Watch Sarah demonstrate in the video below.