So, you’re halfway through a recipe, and it says, “use room temperature butter” like that’s an obvious given already set in place. And if you’re like most people (me), your butter is either rock solid from the fridge or a melted puddle because you set it out too long because you got distracted. Room temperature! Cool. What does that even mean?
Let’s talk about it.
First of all, what is “room temperature”?
It sounds simple, but it is weirdly vague. Room temp doesn’t mean your kitchen temperature, but usually between the 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit range. That’s 20 to 22 Celsius, if you’re measuring in a slightly more sophisticated way.
But nobody’s walking around with a kitchen thermometer checking their cream cheese, right? It is more about how it feels. Room temperature, in baking, is simply what your ingredient feels like when it isn’t cold because it’s tucked away in the refrigerator, and it hasn’t gotten warmed by accident. It feels soft-ish, mixable, comfortable. Essentially it’s whatever temperature your ingredient settles into if you set it on a counter in what we will hope is not an unbearable kitchen temperature for thirty minutes.
Why does it even matter?
You would think baking would never be so picky, but alas, room temp makes a huge difference in how things come together. It’s not that baking is so practical, it is chemistry.
Take butter for example. When you are baking cookies or a cake and the recipe says to have the butter at room temperature, it is important because the butter needs to be soft enough to cream with the sugar. That is what gives your batter its fluffy lift. Cold butter will just smear around and will not incorporate evenly. And melted butter? Whole new texture. You will lose that same structure.
The same thing goes for eggs. Room temp eggs mix more evenly with the butter and the other ingredients of the batter. Cold eggs will actually mess with the batter and you can get a weird curdle-y separation. Not what you are looking for.
And don’t get me started on cream cheese. You will enjoy blending cold cream cheese into frosting only to have to deal with lumps in your frosting or cheesecake filling. You will be chasing them forever and end up with gritty texture instead of the smooth dreamy finish you want.
So yes, it matters. And not just for elaborate baking either. Everything comes out better when ingredients are at the appropriate temp to start with.
How to quickly get things to room temp without planning an hour ahead
If you are anything like me and will forget to take the butter out until the second you preheat the oven, the following are a few things that will work pretty reliably.
Butter:
Cut it up into cubes and let it sit on a plate. That will soften way faster than the 30 minutes or so you’ll need. If you are totally in a jam, grating it with a cheese grater actually works oddly well. Or, if you’re in a bind, just give it a few seconds in the microwave on low power. Just keep an eye on it though or you risk a butter puddle.
Eggs:
The fastest trick? Warm water. To do this, simply fill a bowl with lukewarm water (not hot), and drop the eggs in. Let them sit for 5 to 10 minutes and they will warm up just fine. This works every time, and they won’t cook or set unless the water is way too hot.
Cream Cheese:
This one is a little trickier. It goes from cold to melted pretty fast. If you can be patient, just leave it out on the counter (in the foil or plastic wrap) for about 30 minutes. If you can’t wait (hey) then unwrap, chop it into chunks and microwave it in short bursts (10 seconds). You may want to turn it over with each zap so the heat distributes evenly.
Wait—Is this safe?
Fair question. As soon as you hear “room temperature dairy” your brain goes straight to food poisoning. But here’s the deal: having things like butter or cream cheese or eggs out for a while (30 minutes or so) in a reasonable kitchen isn’t unsafe. As long as the kitchen isn’t hotter than hell and you are not leaving things out all day long, you’ll be okay.
That being said, don’t leave things out for hours. Especially in summer. Be reasonable.
When we say “room temperature” it sounds vague because it is a little vague. It’s more of a guideline than a hard rule and is one way to make your ingredients cooperate. Baking is essentially a science experiment in your kitchen and when everything starts out at the same temperature, they cooperate.
When you see that sentence in a recipe, don’t skip it. Let the ingredients hang out together (not actually hang out). Your cookies will be fluffier, your cakes will be smoother, your cheesecake will have no lumps. And honestly, it just makes everything feel like you have a better idea of what you’re doing in the kitchen.
Even when you are totally winging it.
