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Questions tagged [butter]

A dairy product made by churning milk to separate the butterfat from other milk components. Questions may involve butter either as an ingredient or as a final dish.

This tag is for both questions about using butter in cooking and about making butter.

328 questions
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12 answers

Is it safe to leave butter at room temperature?

Is it safe to leave butter at room temperature? If so, for how long is it safe to keep it out?
Chas. Owens
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37
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3 answers

What is the purpose of creaming butter with sugar in cookie recipes?

I got distracted while assembling the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe and added the sugars, which were supposed to be creamed with the butter first. Fortunately, the sugar was added last and I was able to salvage enough to cream it. What does…
apaderno
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33
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14 answers

How do I butter popcorn without making it soggy?

I've tried buttering my popcorn in the past, and it always turns out inconsistent. A few pieces will be soaked with butter, and others have no butter on them at all. Perhaps there is a way to get the butter flavoring without drizzling butter on…
Brian Ortiz
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33
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6 answers

Does freezing butter or margarine change the properties?

I have a lot of butter & margarine and looking for ways to keep it for longer time. Will freezing them change melting point, flavor, or anything that could be undesirable when cooking? Update: We are now freezing our butter and margarine. It is a…
Justin Nathanael Waters
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32
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3 answers

Is butter ever the same after having been melted?

I was recently doing some experiments with butter which involved melting it gently in the microwave and pouring it into dishes. It seemed to me that after the butter had cooled and re-solidified, it wasn't really the same. The color was yellower,…
Phil Frost
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29
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4 answers

How much to reduce salt when using salted butter in place of unsalted butter

I normally don't keep unsalted butter on hand since I use it so seldom. So when a recipe calls for salt and unsalted butter among its ingredients would it be alright to use salted butter and reduce the amount of salt? And if so, by how much should…
Don O'Donnell
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28
votes
5 answers

Can I deep fry food in butter instead of vegetable oil?

I was wondering if it is possible to deep fry food that would normally be fried in vegetable oil in butter or lard instead? Will the result be different?
caesar
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27
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9 answers

Should I use salted or unsalted butter if the recipe doesn't specify?

When recipes call for “butter” but doesn’t specify “salted” or “unsalted”, which should I use? Does it matter?
Laila
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27
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14 answers

Is there a trick for softening butter quickly?

I often don't realize a baking recipe requires softened butter until after I start adding in the other wet ingredients and it's too late to wait for butter to soften the normal way (with time). So, I will usually microwave the butter until it…
JMann
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26
votes
6 answers

How to prepare butter for baking when time is limited?

From my experience, the best way to use butter when baking is to let it soften to room temperature. However, sometimes one is short on time and must use the microwave to soften the butter. I always felt that cookies are better when the butter is a…
Goodbye Stack Exchange
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25
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19 answers

Cooking an egg without oil or butter

I like scrambled and fried eggs but the butter or oil probably add unnecessary calories. How can I fry an egg with no butter? I tried in a Teflon pan but it was a mess.
tooshel
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22
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3 answers

What is the butter for in a jam recipe?

I made plum jam at the weekend. The recipe I had (from my Good Housekeeping cookbook) wanted me to simmer the plums in water, add sugar and a knob of butter, then boil until a set was reached. I realised too late that I was out of butter, so I…
Vicky
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22
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4 answers

What's the purpose of clarifying butter?

Seriously, if it's just an ingredient in something larger, is it going to make a difference if the butter's been clarified or not?
Sean
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22
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2 answers

Conversion rule: how to switch oil and butter?

Just a moment ago, I was making muffins. The recipe calls for 125ml oil. As a footnote, it says that you can replace the oil with 125g butter. Can you do so in every recipe (not just muffins or pastry)? I've found this, but the amounts aren't the…
Mien
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20
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12 answers

How do you correctly soften butter for spreading?

How do you correctly soften butter for spreading on bread? Is it simply a matter of leaving it at room temperature for a few hours, or do tools like butter conditioners do a better job?
Brian Willis
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