Most recipes for baked goods such as cookies and cakes start out with butter being beaten in a bowl with an electric mixer. This is difficult to do if the butter is cold and hard right from the refrigerator. You'll wind up with lumps of butter instead of smooth, whipped butter that easily incorporates with the remaining ingredients.

If you've forgotten to set the butter out to soften for about an hour or so before you need it, you can speed-soften this way: Put it in a microwave-safe dish; microwave on 30 percent power (defrost) for 15 seconds. Check and repeat if necessary, being careful not to let it melt.

• Cold Butter: Cold butter is firm and slices easily. Use it when the recipe just calls for "butter" in the ingredient list.
• Softened Butter: Softened butter has been allowed to come to room temperature. It is spreadable and blends easily into recipes.
• Melted Butter: It's for more than just popcorn! Melted butter is sometimes used instead of cooking oil in a recipe.

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