After this post opens in a new tab about my annual Gobblefest! friendsgiving, a few people have asked me about putting together the compound butter bar I mentioned. I highly recommend it for any food-filled gathering or even as the centerpiece of a homemade Christmas craft session — it was easy to throw together and a blast! Half the fun is seeing what people come up with and the other half is listening to the hilarious conversations that go on while everybody’s working.
The night before my party, I bought a bunch of little glass jars with lids, a LOT of organic unsalted butter and loaded up on mix-ins. I hit up the bulk department, specialty and produce for herbs and spices, small amounts of cheese and seasonings. When I got home, I raided my refrigerator and pantry for leftover chives, thyme, maple syrup, berries and citrus zest.
The day of, I cleaned the jars, let the butter come to room temp before portioning it out in the jars. For 4-oz jars, I used half a stick, and a whole stick for 8-oz jars.
I covered my kitchen worktable with craft paper and wrote these simple instructions:
CHOOSE your mix-ins
MASH with fork
LABEL your jar
I also jotted down a few suggested flavor combinations and uses on the craft paper to get people’s imaginations going:
Chives + Garlic + Lemon Zest = Fish
Blue Cheese + Rosemary = Meat, Potatoes
Maple + Cinnamon = Orange Vegetables (Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Butternut Squash)
Raspberries + Honey = Toast (French & American!), Pancakes
The resulting personalized butters were perfect party favors but they’d also make great holiday presents or extra special touches for feasting tables.
What flavor combinations would you add to make compound butters, and what would you use them on?
