A lot of baking recipes require you to have softened butter. The softened butter is important because it allows the cookies or whatever you are making to rise appropriately, however, it takes hours to soften. In the winter, my home is so cold I have place the butter near the heater to make sure it softens enough. Usually I can leave the butter out over night and it’s ready for use the next day but today was not the case. Anyways, I wanted to share a short cut tip on how to soften butter without it taking hours.
To do this, fill a bowl with warm water and place the sticks of butter in the water with the wrapper still on. You can even wrap it in plastic wrap to make sure it’s extra waterproof. When you are able to press into the stick easily and leave an indention it’s ready to use. Make sure the water is not hot otherwise it will melt the butter.
I hope this helps!
heapingtablespoon 
Great tip! I always have trouble with baking because I am impatient with butter. Do you have any tips on how to melt butter properly?
Glad it was helpful! I actually don’t melt butter often so I don’t have much personal experience but I’ve heard it’s best to melt butter at a low temp on the stove top in a sauce pan. Make sure not to boil the butter to prevent burning. (I suppose you can try the microwave but at a low temp as well.) To get brown butter just continue to cook the butter on the stove top at a lower heat until it turns a golden brown. Hope that helps!