My butter was frozen solid 20 minutes before guests showed up, and I tossed it in the microwave
Last Saturday I was hosting my sister's birthday at my place in Fresno, and I pulled the butter out of the freezer at 5:40 with people walking in at 6. I panicked and nuked two sticks for 30 seconds, and it came out half melted with cold chunks still in the middle. I dumped the whole mess back in the bowl, mashed it with a fork, threw in a spoon of flour, and pressed it into the pan anyway, and the crust came out greasy and flat but nobody said a word. I still think softening butter on the counter for an hour beats any shortcut, so what do you all do when you forget?