Food - Drink
What Ina Garten Does The Night Before Making Cookies
By JOE DILLARD
Ina Garten has become a household name amongst home chefs, and is particularly famous for her many kitchen tips and tricks. Garten's process for baking the perfect batch of cookies isn't too fussy, but she emphasizes the importance of preparing the ingredients correctly, especially butter.
Cold butter straight from the fridge is hard to mix into cookie dough, while completely melted butter will make the cookies greasy. Before making cookies, Garten recommends always leaving your butter on the kitchen counter overnight, so it's perfectly softened by the time you're ready to bake.
The New York Times says that butter should be at 65 degrees Fahrenheit for baking, so it is "cold to the touch, but warm enough to spread." Whether you follow Garten's lead and soften your butter completely or keep it a bit cooler, the USDA says that butter is safe at room temperature for 1-2 days.
