How to make the best baked asparagus in the whole world!

I make the best baked asparagus. I am so not kidding you. I have had several people ask how to make it, and I dont mind sharing my method. This method is fool proof!! If you follow these simple instructions, you too, can have the best baked asparagus in the whole world right on your dinner table.

What you'll need:

Asparagus (the thinner asparagus works better than the thick stringy stuff) 1-2 lbs
Cookie sheet
Butter (only the real stuff will do)
Salt
Pepper

Everyone knows how to snap the asparagus, right? Okay, here's how.... with your right hand, hold the asparagus spear right in the middle. With your left hand, grab the bottom of the spear. Bend the spear so it snaps off the bottom. It will snap in a natural place between your two hands. Rinse the snapped spears in cold water and dry well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Got your cookie sheet out and ready? Rub some butter on the bottom of it. Get it all nice and buttery, it won't hurt. Lay out your asparagus on the sheet, try to get a single layer of asparagus, not totally necessary but it helps. (Oh, and you might want to try placing the spears opposite of each other, like some pointing away from you and some pointing at you, to make it even) Cut a bunch of thin pats of butter and place them all over the asparagus. You might need 8-12 pats, depending on how much asparagus you have, and how much you like butter. Next, sprinkle the asparagus with salt and pepper. I like to use fresh ground sea salt and pepper.

Stick it in the oven. Bake for 20 minutes. If you dont have much asparagus, like 1 pound or less, and its really skinny, you may only want 15 minutes. But for 2 pounds of average width asparagus, I go for 20 minutes on the dot.

When I pull it out of the oven, I use a spatula (like a pancake turner), and roll the asparagus around to distribute the salt and pepper.

Serve, and enjoy!!

Once you get this down, you could experiment with some balsamic vinegar, parmasan cheese, etc.

But the way I described above is my number 1 favorite way to cook, and eat asparagus.

Wow, I can't believe I just made a whole post about asparagus. And honestly, the only reason I went into so much detail about this, is because Carrie said that she has tried to make it several times and failed. The instructions I usually give sound like this: Cookie sheet, butter, salt and pepper, 350 degrees, 20 minutes.

P.S. your pee will smell like asparagus... this is normal.