How to Cut in Butter

Have you ever seen the instructions “cut in butter” in a recipe? Do you know how to do it? Check out these easy tips, and you’ll be making flaky biscuits in no time!

How to Cut in Butter

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It just sounds hard, doesn’t it? “Cut in butter.” Like it’s some kind of barbaric technique that is going to take you forever. Let me give you a little hint… it’s not as hard as it sounds!

Why Cut In Butter?

Why not just use softened butter? Why not use melted butter? What’s the big deal with cutting in butter, anyway?

The goal is to keep the butter cold, in small pieces, until your recipe gets into the oven. When it’s in the oven, that butter will melt, and leave a little pocket where it was. These pockets help to trap steam during baking, which helps the dough rise. These pockets also help to make the finished product light and flaky.

If you use softened or melted butter in a recipe that calls for cold butter to be cut in, you will end up with a very different texture in the final product.

Three Easy Tricks to Cut in Butter Fast

Here are the three most important things you need to know about cutting in butter.

1. Your butter must be cold. I mean, cold. Don’t get it out of the refrigerator early and let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes while you are getting ready. Leave it in the refrigerator, in the back corner where it is coldest (you know the spot). Take it out of the refrigerator when you are ready for it, and not a moment sooner.
2. Slice the butter into small pats before putting it into your bowl. This will make everything go much quicker. One stick of butter is 8 Tablespoons. I try to cut a stick of butter into about 16 pieces. No need to get all measure-y about it, just eyeball it. Once the butter is cut, you can put it in the freezer for 10 minutes to be sure it is plenty cold before you start.
3. Use a bigger bowl than you think you need. This is going to be messy. It is going to be even messier if you try to use a bowl that is too small. I like to use a large, shallow bowl. The biggest bowl in this set works well.

If you have these tricks down, you are ready to go! The next step is choosing your tools.

How to Use a Pastry Blender to Cut in Butter

I like to use a pastry blender. It’s pretty fast, it’s pretty easy, and this is exactly what this tool was made for.

When you are ready to cut in the butter, slice it into smaller pieces, and put it in the (large, shallow) bowl with your dry ingredients. Hold the edge of the bowl with one hand, and the pastry blender in the other. Using your wrist, scrape the pastry blender down through the ingredients and across the bowl. Turn the bowl a little bit, and repeat. Keep on going, until the dough resembles “coarse crumbs” (pea-size chunks and smaller). The biscuit dough in the photo above is just about ready.

It will take some time, and it will take some practice. But you will get in the groove, I promise!

How to Use a Food Processor to Cut in Butter

You can also use a food processor to cut in butter. I’ll do this when I’m in a hurry, but I don’t do it very often. (Also, I only have a mini food processor, so it’s hard to do larger recipes.) It is fast, but you can get your dough too processed pretty quickly. Just pulse the food processor, and keep a close eye on the consistency of the dough. As soon as you think it might be ready, take it out. You can always process it more if your dough isn’t to the “coarse crumbs” stage yet. But it’s impossible to take those fine crumbs and make them bigger.

How to Use 2 Knives to Cut in Butter

This is my least favorite way. It’s just plain hard. And it takes forever. It works like the pastry blender technique, but instead you hold a butter knife in each hand. Cross your hands at the wrists. The knife in your right hand should be in the left side of the bowl, and the knife in your left hand should be in the right side of the bowl. Quickly uncross your hands, bringing the knives through the dough close to each other so they cut through the butter pieces.

It will take a lot longer to do it this way than using a pastry blender. For me, it is worth a few dollars to buy a pastry blender!

Recipes to Take the Fear Out of This Technique

• Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
• Strawberry Shortcake

Enjoy!