Need to soften a cube of butter fast? Here’s a super quick way to turn that ice-cold butter soft for creaming and for cutting into pastries.
If you’ve been cooking and baking all your life, you probably know this baking hack. When I was a young mom, who couldn’t always plan ahead so well, I hadn’t figured it out yet. I would throw the hard, refrigerator-cold butter into my mixer bowl and let it run for what seemed like ages, trying to get it to creaming stage. It would not cream!
Well, now you can soften your butter while you measure out the rest of your ingredients. In fact, it will take you longer to read these instructions than to do it!
This quick tip is for all the young or new cooks who may not have thought of this one yet.
Start with a chopper-scraper

The chopper scraper–One of the most versatile tools in my kitchen
For fast cutting, use a chopper-scraper like the one in the photos on this page.
The food-grade stainless steel is thin enough to slice butter into cubes quickly and tall and wide enough to give you leverage when slicing through a cold, hard stick of butter.
It costs less than $10. So versatile! To see all the ways this tool saves time in the kitchen, check out my photo review on HubPages: This inexpensive chopper-dough scraper is one of my indispensable kitchen tools.
Quick step-by-step guide
Here you go, seven super quick steps from hard, refrigerated butter to soft, creamable butter in less than twenty minutes.
1. Turn on your oven light

Turn on your oven light
Not the oven! Just the light. The light will warm the oven just a hair, enough to help the butter to soften without melting or losing its creamy structure.
2. Slice the stick three times lengthwise

Slice the butter lengthwise three times
Slice through the stick three times. Now you have three slabs of butter.
3. Turn the block and slice three times lengthwise once more

Turn the cube and slice the butter three times once more, so you have 9 long sticks
Turn the cut cube to the uncut side and slice it lengthwise three times again, so you have nine long sticks of butter, each about 3/8-1/2 inch wide. I messed up here. My arthritic hands don’t always make the most symmetrical cuts, especially when one of them holds a camera.
4. Now, chop the strips into half inch cubes

Next, chop the ends off in half inch intervals to get cubes
Stack the sticks in their original shape once more and slice them off at half inch intervals. They don’t have to be pretty, just easy-peasy cubes. A chopper/scraper is so much easier than a knife for jobs like this. Because the blade is deep, you can keep chopping even when the butter sticks to it.
5. Toss the cubes onto a parchment-lined baking pan

Spread the cubes on a parchment-lined pan
Waxed paper would work too, but I don’t like the idea of the butter fat and wax mingling in the warm oven. Throw the cubes on the sheet. Spread them out a bit so air can circulate around them, and set them in your unheated oven, warmed slightly by the light you turned on earlier.
6. Set the timer for 15 minutes

Set the butter cubes in oven with light on for 15 minutes
From fridge to dicing to oven takes less than five minutes. While your butter is softening in the oven, measure out the rest of the ingredients for your recipe, so they’re all ready to go.
7. Use the warmed butter

After 15 minutes, the softened butter is ready to cream or to cut into your pastry
Use the softened butter as your recipe dictates.
Thank you for visiting this page
I love hearing from other cooks, from experienced chefs to foodie wannabes. Truth is, I love hearing from almost any one. ; ) We all have something to share, don’t we?
What do you think? Is this trick old-hat to you? Or something new you can use?
♥ ♥ ♥
Dear Readers: If you think you’ve seen this tutorial before, you may well have done. In July 2014, as a writer on the now-defunct site Squidoo, I published this tutorial under the user name graceonline. In August 2014, HubPages, where I am known as ecogranny, bought Squidoo, and I transferred this page to the new site. Now, in November 2015, I’ve brought it home–to YayYay’s Kitchen.
Thanks for the
great idea. I never would have thought of it!
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My pleasure! If I can save someone time, I’ve done my job.
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Kathryn this is such a good tip! I find that when I get the inspiration to bake, I haven’t planned ahead and left butter out to soften as it should. I never thought of just using the heat from the light in the oven! Kitchens are amazing aren’t they? So many undiscovered tricks 😉
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Indeed. This one didn’t dawn on me until I’d been baking for 10 years or so! Then, slap to the head, Doh!
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Not even a microwave there to do a mini-seconds zap. I do admit to using the one at home for perhaps 5 secs; the middle softens first, so you have to have confidence and not do it too long.
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Heavens, a very funny ‘face’ has replaced my picture. That is NOT what I look like!
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Hmmm. Something must have happened to your avatar settings.
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You might need to go into your settings and check on your avatar.
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I don’t have a microwave now, but when I did, inevitably, I melted at least half the butter. The oven light method is quick enough and works perfectly. No hassles. But if I were in a hotel room, I’d have to rely on my hot, menopausal hands!
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We have a new oven and the light only goes on when the oven is turned on. I admire you not having a microwave; I do use it, but not to the extent that I could.
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Oh wow, what a shame! I use my light-warmed oven so many ways–raising yeast bread, making yogurt. Saves so many ways.
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Could have used something like that in Sedona two weeks ago, but didn’t have the equipment to hand. So, fed up with trying to put hard butter pats onto the fluffy Belgian waffles all motels seem to offer nowadays, I put them on top of the coffee maker while it brewed. Got half liquid and half nearly soft enough, but we managed. Thanks for the tip.
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Goodness. Glad it worked. No oven light in a hotel, unfortunately.
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Ooh! This is such a handy hint – thank you!
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My pleasure!
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Never thought of using the oven light. Great idea.
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I remember back when it first occurred to me–a slap the forehead moment. : )
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A creative cooking tip
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Thank you.
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I turn on the toaster-oven while I put the whole stick of butter (or the number of Tbsp. I need) in a small oven-proof dish. As soon as the heating coil is visibly red, I turn off the toaster-oven, put the dish inside, and go on with my work. The butter softens nicely. I only go to the trouble of cutting it up if the recipe is one in which it’s really crucial for the butter to have an extremely even texture, with no melted spots–like a pastry with a very special consistency–I rarely make that kind of thing.
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Good idea! Thanks for sharing it.
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Hi Kathryn,
What a great idea for soften butter. I had never thought of this. Thanks for sharing on Real Food Fridays. Pinned & twitted.
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My pleasure. Thanks for sharing!
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LOL! I made cookies for manfriend a few weeks ago – and he’s anal about using room temp butter – yeahhhh I microwaved it and he totally noticed and caught me! LOL!
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Too funny! Now you can get it just right and wow him while you’re at it. Thanks for the visit!
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I fall into the category of “I’m going to bake now.” It never crossed my mind to use the oven light for softening. What a great (simple) idea!
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I felt the same way the first time I thought of it. One of those slap-the-forehead moments.
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Good idea. I usually remember to set the butter out way ahead of time so I don’t have to worry about this. Same with cream cheese.
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A lot of times I jump up to make a recipe I’ve just discovered on the web, so this trick comes in handy two or three times a month! Thanks so much for stopping by, Barbara.
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