Oh no!  I didn’t read the recipe ahead of time (1st mistake) and am just about to make my ____________(insert here:  cake, cookies, brownies,etc) and see that I’m supposed to have butter at room temperature!

I didn’t take my stick of butter out of the fridge (2nd mistake) and now I’m up against a deadline and I need to make these __________!

Oh well, I’ll just stick it in a bowl in the microwave for a minute or two, that’ll soften it right up.

Or, I can just put it on top of the preheating oven and that should work…

NO, NO, NO!!!

If you “soften” your butter this way, you will completely change the outcome of whatever you are attempting to bake.  In other words, you will ruin your dish!  The consistency and temperature of the butter are essential to the chemical reactions that are needed with whatever you are baking…

therefore…

the best way to handle this situation is to grab your stick of butter (or whatever amount you needed at room temp) and cut it up into small pieces.

Then leave it out on the counter for 20 minutes and you are good to go…

Great little tip that will save you the aggravation of redoing your entire dessert!