Simple way to soften butter goes viral, but has stirred up a right royal row

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

How many times have you reached for the microwave to soften some butter, only to end up with a bowl full of yellow liquid.

It seems it's a common kitchen problem that people are keen to fix.

So much so that a handy trick for softening the stuff quickly has gone down a storm.

And it turns out all you need is a warm glass.

Sharing the hack on the Easy Daily Recipes Facebook page, it said: "One of the best baking tips ever. If you need to soften butter quickly but don't want to MELT it, Put boiling hot water in a glass to heat the glass. Dump the water out and flip it over your stick of butter. In a few minutes it will be perfectly soft to use!

"You're welcome!"

Thousands of people have praised the idea and the post has been shared 48,000 times in the last three days alone.

"Great tip since I forget to take it out early in the day," said one.

"I’ve been doing this for a while now. Works great," said another.

But not everyone is so convinced.

Lots of people commented to say it's much simpler to use the microwave - 'just put it on defrost and it stops it melting," said one.

While another added: "My microwave has an actual setting for softening butter and it doesn’t melt it."

Others questioned the safety of heating up glass, saying you'd need to put a metal spoon in the water to 'conduct the heat away from the glass'.

And some said they have easier and speedier methods to soften their butter.

"I grate the butter and it softens in no time," said one.

"This does not work," said another. "Grate the butter leave for a bit and it's softened."

One woman questioned why it needs softening at all, as she doesn't keep it in the fridge anyway.

"I think I must be the only person that keeps their butter in a butter dish on the kitchen