You want to bake, but the butter and eggs are ice cold. I know, first world problems. But there’s a hack for that.

To warm your eggs to room temperature, place them in a bowl of warm water from your faucet. Not hot water, just warm. Let them sit for about 10-15 minutes. Voila! Room temperature eggs at the ready.

The butter. It will takes hour on the counter to soften. When you microwave it, some of it becomes puddles of butter, while the rest is still hard. How do you soften it quickly? There’s a hack for that! Fill a heat resistance Pyrex bowl with hot water. I have an electric kettle which makes the process faster. Fill the bowl about half way with hot water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Slice your butter on a heat resistant plate. Dinner plates are usually ok if you can microwave them. Don’t pile the slices of butter on top of each other, like I did. Rookie mistake. I had to do the process twice. Check to make sure the bowl and plate are compatible sizes. Ok. Now, throw in that laundry and fix your “no-show” socks that keep slipping. Empty the bowl, giving it a quick wipe and then place the empty, hot bowl over your plate of single layered sliced butter. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. Ok. Now fix those stupid socks again. Prepare your baking pans. Make sure the oven is heating up. Measure your dry ingredients and your wet. This process does not take away time from your baking. Maybe it even lets you manage it better? (insert shrugging shoulders emoji) Check your email and the weather. Butter is ready for baking!

My last hack involves vanilla extract. My measuring spoons have straight sides. No matter how I tip them to pour in the vanilla extract, there is some residual in the spoon. So, I place the empty spoon in the milk. I hate wasting delicious vanilla.

So, what’s your excuse? Get baking! I have a cake to frost. Bye!