I had planned to get some cookie baking done this am while DH is out getting the car serviced. I forgot to soften the butter! Does anyone know a quick way to do this? Thanks for any help/suggestions.
ditto the microwave. Don't know if you have it on yours or not but my microwave can have the power level adjusted is what I do. I set it for half power and then the butter just softens and you are less likely to end up accidentally melting it.
Cutting it into smaller pieces will also speed things up, but I probably would not combine that with microwaving as that would probably result in liquid.
I just had this problem when I was making scones, only the butter was in the freezer! When I've tried microwaving to fix this, I usually end up with butter that's soft on the outside but still firm on the inside.
I googled and came up with this solution, which worked great: Cut the butter into very small pieces. As you expose more surface area, it softens easily. HTH.