EL, Creaming butter should only take about 2-3 minutes when using any kind of electric mixer — albeit a handheld mixer may need a bit more time than a stand mixer, but not much. We don't recommend creaming butter and sugar together by hand alone; you need the high speed of a mixer to properly beat the sugar into the butter to create the necessary pockets of air that become the foundation of your baked good. I hope that clarifies. Kye@KAF

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