30 years of baking and I just learned I've been creaming butter wrong this whole time

Was making cookies last weekend and they came out flat again. My neighbor watched me beat the butter and sugar and asked why I was using cold butter straight from the fridge. I always thought room temp was a myth. She showed me the difference with her batch and I swear mine looked like sad pancakes compared to hers. All those years of dense cakes and flat cookies for nothing. Anyone else have a baking trick they stubbornly ignored for decades?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane_carter21d ago

Ah man, that one stings because it's so simple but makes such a huge difference. I did the same thing for years, stubbornly refusing to believe room temperature butter mattered. Once I actually let it sit out for an hour (maybe 45 minutes if I'm impatient), the texture change was night and day. Flat cookies were a thing of the past, and my cakes actually rose properly. It's one of those little things that just completely changes your baking results.

rowanr8821d ago

Right? It's wild how something that tiny changes everything. I used to nuke my butter in the microwave and wonder why my stuff came out greasy.

gray31421d ago

I actually gotta push back a little here @rowanr88 cause I've been using cold butter on purpose for years and my cookies come out thick and chewy every time. Maybe it depends on what texture you're going for, but "wrong" seems a bit harsh when different methods give you totally different results.