In the past, I was often indifferent about a recipe calling for softened butter. I would just throw a stick of cold butter in the stand mixer bowl and hope for the best. But now that I'm a bit older ...

We’ve all experienced that moment of kitchen despair when you begin a baking project and realize you forgot to set out your butter for softening. We’ve also all been privy to the errors of stubbornly ...

Softening butter is an important step for many baked goods. Using butter while it's cold, softened, and melted all achieve drastically different results when baking. Softened, or room temperature, ...

Winter makes butter hard and difficult to spread. With a few easy tricks and smart storage, you can keep butter soft, creamy, ...

Creaming butter and sugar plays a role in making baked goods light and fluffy. It's important to start with softened butter. Always scrape down the side of the mixing bowl to achieve proper texture.

Sharon Lockley has over 20 years of experience as an editor and writer and has been contributing to Food & Wine since 2019. There’s nothing more frustrating than trying to spread cold butter on a ...

1. Fill a tall glass with boiling hot water and line a small plate with a paper towel. 3. Pour out the hot water from the glass, then immediately place the empty hot glass over the stick of butter.