Softening Butter (Tip)

(This TIP is borrowed from themamasgirls.com)

I have always had the problem of having my butter either hard rock solid or a melted mess.  I can’t seem to find the happy medium … until now.  Thank you Mamas Girls!!  They have found a way to melt the butter perfectly and uniformly so that it can be used immediately to spread or use in recipes calling for softened butter. And, it  takes less than 25 seconds of your time.

Stand the wrapped stick of butter on it’s end on a small plate and into the microwave.  (If you have a turntable in your microwave, turn off the rotation feature.)

Microwave on high-power for 5 seconds. Turn the butter onto it’s other end and microwave for another 5 seconds on high-power. (Keep in mind that you may have to deactivate the turntable each time.)

Now lay the stick of butter down and microwave 4 seconds.  Turn the stick of butter over and microwave another 4 seconds (again, with the turntable off.)

Check the butter by pressing on the stick of butter to see if it is uniformly soft.  Because microwave ovens vary, it may be necessary to add up to an additional 3 – 4 seconds, but be careful not to over-do it or you will end up with that same pool of melted butter in the middle of the stick – which is what you were trying to avoid!

Your butter will now be soft, not melted, and ready to either pop into your mixer or to spread onto soft bread.

NOTE – Different brands of butter are wrapped differently.  Tillamook is wrapped in paper and Challenge is wrapped in foil.  I prefer the paper so I can soften it in the microwave.

 Land O Lakes is also wrapped in paper.