I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to bake only to realize the butter needed to be softened.  Unless I am melting butter, I am not a fan of the microwave to soften butter.  I either over do it, resulting in melted butter and/or butter with a melted hole in the middle or I have to change the position of the butter in the microwave every few seconds to make sure it doesn’t  melt which is really annoying.

This is a particularly vexing problem at the restaurant as I get in at 5:30 in the morning and nothing is room temperature.  We have gas ovens so they are always warm.  So what I came up with was slicing the 1 pound block of butter into thin slices, placing them on a plate in a single layer and putting them in the oven while I got the rest of the recipe together.  It is a life saver.  The butter can melt if you aren’t careful but generally, if I don’t forget it, the butter is perfect when I am ready for it. Continue reading →