What Room Temperature Really Means In Baking

Forgetting to leave your eggs, butter, cream, cheese, or yogurt out on the counter long enough to come to room temperature can really put a damper on your baking (especially any last-minute, impossibly fudgy Alton Brown double baked brownies). But what's the big deal with room temperature anyway? Is it an actual range of degrees? And does the world really end if you throw fridge butter in the mixer and hope for the best? Lucky for us (and your future White House-favorite chocolate chip cookies), Wilton Sweet Studio School Director, Sandy Folsom, is laying all the delicious details on the table for us. At room temperature, of course.

"Making sure you have ingredients at the temperature called for in the recipe is super important when baking as it ensures your batters, doughs, and frostings are even and well-emulsified," Folsom shares. Since baking is a precise science, improper temperatures can cause everything from chocolates to custards to seize, curdle, and congeal. "Room temperature ensures all the ingredients are equalized so they can cook at the same rate," she advises. Of course, that means they'll taste great, too.

So, how do you know when your ingredients have read the room? "'Room temperature' doesn't necessarily mean the actual temperature of your room as that can vary widely depending on your location," Folsom explains, adding, "Your ingredients should be between 65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit." At that temperature, butter is soft, but not melty; and an egg loses its chill from the fridge and feels, y'know, like it's been hanging out on your kitchen counter.

Even with the best intentions, it's easy to blank on tabling your ingredients for several hours before using them to bake. I recently made coffee cake, and while I was fast-forwarding my cold butter to room temp, I remembered my eggs were still in the fridge. [Face palm.] But, as far as Sandy Folsom is concerned, there's no need to forgo your bake sesh just because of a little chilly temperature situation.

You can rest cold eggs in a bowl of warm water for five minutes until the shells no longer feel cold, and heat heavy cream or milk in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time. But — as maybe the most notorious of the fridge-bound ingredients — butter requires a little extra care. "Cut your stick of butter into slices and arrange on a plate. Place near the oven or in a warm part of your kitchen to soften," instructs Folsom. "You'll know your butter is at room temperature by simply pressing your finger into the butter, if it makes an indent easily without your finger sliding anywhere."

Before you mise en place, some recipes actually require cold ingredients (famously, flaky pie crust only works with the coldest butter). "Different recipes call for different temperature ingredients," Folsom notes. "Delicious, flaky layers in pie crusts and pastries come from using cold pieces of butter while melted butter is key for making chewy cookies and bars." Trust that no matter what your recipe suggests as far as temperatures go, it means it. When it comes to successful baking, using room temperature ingredients when they're called for leads to the sweetest results.