4 Tips for Softening Butter, Fast!

Recently I was making a batch of brownies for a friend who was going to drop by, and I didn't have the butter nice and soft. I'd just made tea and had a genius idea: I'll put the butter in close enough proximity to the warm burner that it'll soften in no time. Well you can probably guess what actually occurred: melted butter on the burner. Dumb move. Here's a better way...

If only I'd come across the blog Weelicious first. Recently writer and blogger Catherine McCord gave us four simple tips for softening your butter fast.

I'd heard of a few of the tips (cutting it into small pieces is always a winner), but there was one that I'd never thought of (put it in a Ziploc bag and immerse in warm water for a few minutes).

While we'd talked about butter softening tips years back here on The Kitchn, it's a good reminder as we come into holiday baking season. Catherine posted a fun video of her and daughter Chloe putting the tips to good use.

Check out the video: 4 Quick Ways to Soften Butter at Weelicious

What's your favorite way to soften butter quickly?

Related: Smart Tip: A Quick Way to Save Oversoftened Butter

(Image: Emma Christensen)

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Smart Tip: A Quick Way to Save Over-Softened Butter America's Test Kitchen

If you use your microwave to quickly soften butter for baking, you know that the difference between "perfectly soft" and "melty mess" is a matter of seconds. But before you grab a fresh stick to start over, check out America's Test Kitchen's great tip for reviving overly soft butter all it takes is a couple minutes and a few ice cubes.

To save partially melted butter, place it in a bowl with a few ice cubes and stir. In less than a minute, the butter will quickly cool and solidify to the soft texture you are looking for. Simply remove the ice cubes and proceed with the recipe. (The small amount of water that has melted into the butter won't affect the finished product.)

Keep in mind this method won't work with completely melted butter, so if you are looking at a puddle at the bottom of the bowl, it's best to save that butter for another use and start again with a fresh stick.

Do you have any tips or tricks for saving overly soft butter?

Related: What Is the Best Way To: Soften Butter?

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Bring on the Biscuits: 5 Classic Recipes for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

You can make them with butter, cream or crme frache. You can fold in cheese or bits of bacon or a smattering of herbs. Maybe you eat them plain, with a little butter or jam, or perhaps you make a sandwich out of both sides. What are we referring to? The fluffiest fall breakfast food around, of course: the towering biscuit.

Biscuits sometimes get a bad rap because people think they are difficult to make, that there are many tips and tricks to get them to have any sort of height. This really isn't true. You don't want to overmix your biscuits, certainly. But I have yet to make a bad biscuit. Sure, I've made some that are flatter than others (squatter, even) but they're still light, buttery and delicious. And this time of year, I think we could all use a little more of that in our average breakfast. Or lunch, or dinner.

Try a Recipe:
Cheese Biscuits - Food 52
Crme Frache Biscuits - Food and Wine
Bakewell Cream Biscuits - King Arthur Flour
Grandmother Walter's Biscuit Recipe - Epicurious
Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuits - Pinch My Salt

Related: Two-Ingredient Biscuits

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Can You Suggest Some Non-Dairy Alternatives to Use in My Baking? Good Questions

Q: I recently started baking nothing fancy, just cakes and muffins and was really starting to get into it when my husband was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. Most cake and pastry recipes I've come across require butter. Is there a non-dairy alternative I can use? Please help!

Sent by Aurvi

Editor: Aurvi, try seeking out vegan baking recipes, which use non-dairy ingredients like margarine and soymilk in place of butter or milk. You can also experiment with substituting the dairy in standard baking recipes with some of these suggestions:

Banana For an Egg: Vegan Substitutions for 8 Common Baking Ingredients

Readers, do you have any suggestions or advice for using non-dairy alternatives in baking?

Next question?

Related: Lactose Intolerance Got You Down? 10 Dairy-Free Ice Cream Recipes

(Image: Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins/Leela Cyd Ross)

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Real Buttermilk's Comeback Story

If you've ever tasted real buttermilk, you know it tastes nothing like the cartons you buy at major grocery stores. And the good news: Soon, the creamy, tasty real stuff could be much easier to come by.

Just so we're all on the same page, the buttermilk you likely buy in the store, explains New York Times writer Julia Moskin, "isn't really buttermilk. It is made from regular low-fat or skim milk, usually low-grade rejects from cheese and butter companies. The milk is inoculated with cultures to make it acidic, and thickened with additives like locust bean gum and carrageenan." It certainly works to fluff up pancakes and biscuits and is a quick ticket to creamy salad dressings, but not many folks would like to drink it straight.

Until now. Many creameries are starting to bottle their own buttermilk and sell it to some grocery stores and higher-end restaurants. This buttermilk is what remains in the churn after the butter comes together. It often has little chunks of butter actually floating in it, and boasts a tart yet light flavor. It's not seen as a by-product any longer, but as a sought-after ingredient in sweet and savory recipes that more and more U.S. chefs are starting to recognize and demand.

If you have a local dairy you like or folks that sell cheese and butter at your local farmers market, you could begin by asking them about real buttermilk. As the demand and curiosity grows, so too, eventually, will the supply.

Read More: How to Find (or Make) Real Buttermilk at The New York Times

Have you ever had real buttermilk?

Related: What is Bulgarian Buttermilk?

(Image: Megan Gordon)

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How To Fry an Egg: The Video Video from The Kitchn

How do you fry an egg? Do you do it fast, with a smear of butter? Or all bubbly, with lots of olive oil, like the Spanish do? Here's one basic way to fry an egg it's simple and foolproof.

What You Need

Ingredients
One or more eggs
Butter

Equipment
Nonstick OR stainless steel skillet or frying pan
Large thin spatula

Instructions

1. Heat the skillet over medium heat. You should be able to feel the heat if you hold your hand about 4 inches above the skillet.

2. Place a small pat of butter on the skillet. As the butter melts, spread it around with your spatula.

3. When the butter foam subsides, crack an egg onto the skillet.

4. Set a timer for 4 minutes. (If you want the white to set more quickly, cover loosely with a lid.)

5. After 4 minutes, take the egg off. The underside of the white should be nicely browned and the yolk should be just set.

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Macadamia Nut Butter & Lemon Loaf Cake Delicious Links

Roasted macadamia butter, German meatballs, and grilled peach salad in today's Delicious Links.

Today's Delicious Links

Konigsberger Klopse, Wild Boar Meatballs - Hunter Angler Gardener Cook.

Lemon Loaf Cake with Grilled Peaches - Nestl Kitchens.

Grilled Peach Salad with White Balsamic Vinaigrette - Feasting At Home.

Roasted Macadamia Butter - Ari's Menu.

Do you have a delicious link to share?
Send us a link here!

Previous Delicious Links

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