Food

When baking, room temperature ingredients are key! Ingredients at room temperature combine smoothly and trap air better than those that are cold. Then when you bake the air expands, giving you light, airy, evenly baked goodies. Cold ingredients don't mix as well, resulting in dense cookies, heavy breads, and lumpy cheesecakes. Batters made with cold ingredients don't combine smoothly.

So, how do you quickly bring your baking ingredients to room temperature?

Bring Butter to Room Temperature Quickly

If you have a little time, cut the butter into small cubes and let it sit out at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes.

If you have less time, try microwaving the butter in five-second bursts. Be careful not to let the butter melt.

If the butter is frozen, try grating it. The small pieces will soften almost immediately.

Bring Eggs to Room Temperature Quickly

Cold eggs can actually cause the butter you carefully softened to firm up and give a batter a slightly curdled appearance.

To warm up your eggs, place them into a dish of warm water for 5 minutes

Hold the egg in your hand and run your hand under warm water.

Bring Brown Sugar Back to Life Quickly

Place the hard sugar in a microwave safe container and put it in your microwave with a bowl of water beside it.

Microwave for about one minute, then check it. If it's still hard, repeat for another 30 seconds. Keep repeating this until your brown sugar is soft. But be careful not to melt the sugar!