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You might wonder how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature for your next recipe. I’ve got just what you need to find the right method for you!
If you’ve ever wondered how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature, the easiest and best way is to simply allow them to sit – at room temperature. That’s pretty much a no-brainer, right?
But this method usually means that you have a bit of a plan in place. If I know that I am going to be baking a batch of M&M Cookies or my Easy Sugar Cookies recipe early in the morning, I always take my items out of the fridge and allow them to sit on the counter overnight.
However, if you’re at all like me, sometimes ya just get the urge to bake something without a plan in place. I often find myself in this situation and it can be a real bummer if the recipe you’re using calls for room temperature items such as butter, eggs, or even cream cheese.
But no worries, I’ve got ya covered – so the next time you find yourself staring at ice cold butter and eggs, you’ll know exactly how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature in no time!
I usually bake with room temperature eggs because they seem to disperse much better through batters when they aren’t fresh out of the fridge. Typically if the recipe calls for room temperature butter, it’s a good idea to use room temperature eggs too.
HOW TO BRING EGGS TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
Place eggs in a bowl and cover them with warm (not hot) tap water.
Allow the eggs to sit in the water for about 5 minutes or until they are no longer cool to the touch.
HOW TO BRING BUTTER TO ROOM TEMPERATURE
Clearly, bringing eggs to room temperature is pretty straightforward. But there are a few ways to soften butter – some of them are faster than others.
THE QUICK METHOD:
If you bake a lot, I’m betting you’ve attempted to soften butter in the microwave, right? I know some microwaves have a fancy schmancy feature that allows you to soften butter at the press of a button, but unfortunately, my microwave is not rocking that feature. Softening butter in the microwave can can be tricky because if you get distracted, you’ll end up with a pool of butter instead of a beautifully softened stick.
You know you’ve done it – and I’ll attest to the fact that cleaning up melted butter from the inside of the microwave is a pain in the booty. After some trial and error, I’ve pretty much perfected my microwave softening technique, here’s what I do:
HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER IN THE MICROWAVE
1. Place stick(s) of butter on a microwave safe plate. Leave the paper wrapper on.
2. Place the plate into the microwave and heat on high power for 5 seconds.
Open microwave, give the stick 1/4 turn (meaning, pick it up and flip it over onto its side) and heat again for 5 seconds.
Do this on all four long sides of the stick(s) of butter. Typically after about 20-25 seconds my butter is perfect. This time will vary depending on your microwave – simply watch it closely and keep flipping it. The flipping action will help the butter to evenly soften.
HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER BY CUBING
If you have a little bit of time on your hands, you can cut the stick(s) of butter into fourths lengthwise and then cube into small pieces. The smaller the cubes, the quicker the butter will soften. Just leave them at room temperature for about an hour or until soft to the touch.
HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER BY GRATING
I always have a lot of butter on hand and when it’s on sale I stock up and store it in the freezer. But sometimes I forget to move some to the fridge when I’m running low, and then find myself with pounds of only frozen butter. The easiest way to bring frozen butter to room temperature is to take out your handy box grater and grate the butter into a bowl.
Within no time, your butter will be soft and ready to be added to your favorite recipe. This grating method also works wonders when a recipe calls for frozen butter such as scones and pie doughs.
DO EGGS NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?
All of this talk of room temperature butter might have you wondering – do baking ingredients really need to be refrigerated at all?
Here in the U.S., eggs need to be refrigerated. This is because of the way they are washed and then refrigerated before selling. In Europe, where eggs are processed differently and not refrigerated from the start, eggs do not need to be refrigerated.
Rule of thumb for ya: If the eggs are refrigerated from the start, they need to stay refrigerated.
DOES BUTTER NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?
All unsalted butter should be kept refrigerated. Salted butter can be kept at room temperature but will go bad much faster (about a week). Using an airtight container like a butter crock can make it last longer (about 2 weeks) – and looks cute, too.
And there you have it, my not-so-technical methods of how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature. I hope it helps you out the next time you feel the urge to bake up something in a hurry! (Try my Cookies and Cream Cookies or my Graham Cracker Cookies.)
NOTES
The Microwave and Cube Methods will also work for softening cream cheese. If you use the microwave method, be sure to unwrap the cream cheese before placing it into the microwave.
Great Tips Thanks!
xo
Good idea to share these tips with everyone. I do the cube method, only I cut the stick of butter into about 16 “pats” and place them in a single layer on a plate. If I need to speed the process along, I place the plate on the counter underneath the under cabinet lighting.
Luckily my microwave has a “soften butter” setting so I usually use that, but I never thought about how to quickly warm eggs. Great tip!
That’s pretty cool, I wish mine had that function.
I used your grating process last night and it was great. But I did lose some of the butter on the counter and will let’s just say it went all over the place. But I got a great results.
Thanks for the tips.
Great post! I am so bad at planning my baking ahead of time so these tips are very helpful!
I always find myself with this problem. I tend to be a spur-of-the-moment baker and I often end up microwaving butter to get it to room temperature and end up with a runny mess. Thanks for the tips!
I also usually just put the stick of butter in my pocket to warm it up (if I’m going to be at risk for sitting on it, I put it in a ziploc bag first.
My oven heats up the entire stovetop when I preheat it, so lately I’ve been softening butter on the stove top. I lack a microwave, but I’ve found that my toaster oven also works well for softening a stick of butter.
I also sit my butter on my stovetop and let the vents from the oven warm it up. I also use the microwave method, but usually over-do it and end up with a mess. I like the pocket method!
What great, simple tricks and tips! Thanks for sharing dear…
The grating method is brilliant! I’ve never heard of it, and have always just used the cube method. Thanks for being so helpful with all your tips.
@Victoria (District Chocoholic), this the method I use for making biscuits! I keep the butter in the freezer and grate it directly into my flour. Keeps it cold and makes for really flaky biscuits!!
I’ve found that stuffing a stick of butter in your back pocket while you prep the rest of the ingredients can be enough, at least with recipes that take a few minutes to set up!
Corinne-
I LOVE it! My only problem is that I’d probably sit on it! ;) Thanks for sharing!
-Jamie
If I am using my oven or pre-heating it for baking, I will sit the sticks right in the center of the oven where it is nice and warm. Just remember to rotate it so it doesn’t melt on your stovetop.
I do this as well and works like a charm. Also for some reason the top of my fridge is warm, so sometimes I will set stuff up there, especially if I want it out of my way (small kitchen).
These are all amazingly wonderful tips…but as I am not great at planning ahead. I have found that if I take the stick of butter in my tanning bed it works just as well…and I have a wonderful “Buttery” glow too! : )