This Butter-Softening Hack From TikTok Is A Game-Changer
I'm not much of a baker. I have my go-to desserts that I like to make for a dinner party, but leveling out flour and weighing baking soda isn't exactly my thing. I'm more of a measure with my heart and taste as I go kind of gal.
So the absolute last thing on my mind when I do bake something is remembering to take the butter out of the fridge so it can come up to room temperature.
A stick of butter needs to be soft and creamy so all of its fatty goodness can be well incorporated into your cookies, cakes, and loaves. But if you're like me, you often end up with a half melted, half ice-cold lump of butter deformed from panicked spins in the microwave.
But TikTok has come to the rescue. Sarah Crawford of the baking account @bromabakery posted a video about the most genius way to soften butter. Standing in her gorgeous white-marble kitchen, she takes a stick of Vermont Creamery butter and puts it in the waste band of her pants. "That's it," she says with a pat. "Give it, like, five minutes, turn, and you can go measure out your ingredients, and then your butter is ready to go."
Brilliant. Using the heat from my body to warm up the butter while my most chaotic self does the rest of the prep takes away some of the anarchy while I'm baking.
Naturally, I had to try it. I put on my baking jeans (the ones with a little extra stretch for when I inevitably consume half the raw batter) and strapped in a cold stick of butter. I also set a timer for ~*science*~.
Just like with all baking recipes, I actually followed the directions, turning the butter every five minutes so each side got a chance to cook (ew?) against my skin. And honestly, it worked! Like, really well. The heat from my body slowly started to bring the butter to room temp (or body temp?). After 24 minutes and six seconds, I had perfectly softened butter. The stick was little dented from my waistband, but somehow I did not end up covered in greasy butter.
I would definitely try this hack again. As someone who runs around in the mosy turbulent manner while baking, leaving behind little dusts of flour and chocolate shavings (seriously, whoever said baking is therapy has probably never gone to therapy), I love the idea that I can tuck a stick of cold butter into my jeans, measure out all my ingredients, and have a soft stick of butter by the time I need it. Now, I wonder if this hacks works for eggs?
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