Here's The Quickest Way To Soften Cream Cheese

Many recipes that use cream cheese require that it be room temperature, which can be hard to anticipate ahead of time. Luckily, you can soften cream cheese quickly in a microwave.

After you remove the cream cheese from its packaging, place it in a microwave-safe dish or bowl and zap it for about 15 seconds on high. It's really that simple.

You can add little 10-second spurts, depending on how strong your microwave is, or how much you're microwaving, until the cream cheese reaches the desired consistency.

Just remember to keep an eye on it, because you don't want it to melt. If some liquid comes off the cream cheese, that's totally normal; just stir it back into the solids.