Butter straight from the fridge vs softened, huge difference

Made cookies twice last Sunday in Phoenix, once with cold butter cut into cubes and once with butter left out for an hour. The softened batch spread perfectly and got that chewy edge, the cold one came out lumpy and took 6 extra minutes in the oven. I always thought room temp was just a suggestion but now I'm actually checking the clock. Anyone else have a baking step they used to skip that turned out to be the whole deal?

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emery_craig1mo ago

The softened butter thing is no joke. I did the exact same test with my chocolate chip cookies last month and the cold butter ones were straight up hockey pucks. I used to just yank the butter out of the fridge and go, thinking it was fine, but that one hour of sitting out changed everything. The texture was night and day, chewy edges on the outside and soft in the middle, not that dense lumpy mess. Now I set a timer on my phone when I take the butter out, its part of the routine. Honestly, measuring flour properly was the other thing I always skipped, sifting or scooping it right makes a way bigger difference than I ever thought.