If you’re looking for a last minute holiday gift, these Easy Homemade Compound Butter Recipes for the Holiday Season are just the thing! Making your own compound butter feels fancy, but couldn’t be easier! With unlimited flavor options, these make the perfect hostess gift, or a fancy way to step up your butter game for those holiday dinner rolls!
Why You’ll Love…
You’ll love how quick and easy these compound butters are to make! They don’t require any fancy equipment and the flavor options are endless! It’s a really great gift to bring to any holiday party for a last minute hostess gift! Despite how easy it is to make, these compound butters are so delicious and perfect for sharing with friends! It’s a great recipe to make and keep in your fridge ahead of time, so your guests have something delicious to enjoy as an easy appetizer or to serve on the table with the rolls! It’s one of those easy things you can do to make your holiday dinner just a bit more special!
Equipment Needed:
Mixing Bowl – I just a small bowl to mix everything together! You might need a few small bowls to keep the savory compound butters separate from the sweet compound butters! No one wants a hint of garlic in their cinnamon butter!
Spatula – Because the butter should be room temperature when making these recipes, all you really need is a spatula to mix everything together! I don’t recommend using an electric mixer because I like to see the specs of herbs in the butter!
Saucepan – For two of these recipes, you need a small nonstick skillet or saucepan to brown the butter and fry the sage!
Parchment Paper – I like to wrap the butter in a piece of parchment paper to store the compound butters! You can also use plastic wrap or wax paper!
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Fried Sage Garlic Fennel Butter
This Fried Sage Garlic Fennel Butter sounds like a mouthful, but it’s so incredibly delicious! It’s definitely a butter that will take any bread to the next level! If you’re going to make any of your own compound butters this holiday season, I definitely recommend this one!
It starts out by frying sage, fennel seeds and smashed garlic in a little bit of olive oil! Bonus: if you want to make any flavored olive oils, you could really just stop here! There’s enough flavor in these three ingredients to make an incredible olive oil!
You can really any add kind of fresh herbs in this butter instead of the sage, from rosemary, to thyme, even basil would be delicious in here! Go through your herb garden and you can really get creative with the type of compound butter you make!
This would also be a delicious butter to add a little bit of citrus zest to it! For my Thanksgiving turkey, I have a combination of sage and lemon butter that I use every year! I’ll link that recipe for you here!
Fried Sage Garlic Fennel Butter
Equipment
- Small Nonstick Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 5 Sage Leaves
- 2 Garlic Cloves smashed
- 1/2 tablespoon Fennel Seeds
- Flaky Sea Salt to taste
Instructions
- Over medium heat, add olive oil, sage leaves, garlic, and fennel seeds to a small saucepan.2 tablespoons Olive Oil, 5 Sage Leaves, 2 Garlic Cloves, 1/2 tablespoon Fennel Seeds
- Let bubble and fry the sage for about 5-7 minutes!
- Then remove the garlic, and pour the fennel seeds, olive oil, and sage into a mortar and pestle. Use this to gently smash the seeds and sage! This step is optional, but I do feel like it helps the seeds release their flavor! You could also use a muddler to smash the seeds!
- Then pour the fennel and sage mixture over the room temperature butter.1 stick Butter
- Mix together and add a pinch of flaky sea salt.Flaky Sea Salt
- Wrap in parchment paper and enjoy!
Cacio E Pepe Butter
This Cacio E Pepe Butter is truly a wonder ingredient to keep in your fridge at all times! One of my favorite ‘Girl’s Dinner’ is a simple bowl of buttered noodles! It was a classic in my childhood and anytime I’m feeling slightly under the weather, it’s the only thing I crave! By having a flavored butter like this one, you can instantly enhance your buttered noodles to feel like a fancy meal instead of a two ingredient cheat meal.
Cacio E Pepe Butter translates to Cheese and Pepper, it’s a classic Italian dish that’s made up of parmesan and freshly cracked black pepper! In this compound butter, I like to add plenty of grated parmesan, a generous helping of black pepper, and a little sprinkle of garlic powder! I don’t like to add too much salt to this recipe, as the butter is already salted and the parmesan adds plenty of salty flavor! I also don’t recommend adding in a garlic clove, since that can overpower the subtle flavors of the cheese and pepper!
For this recipe, it would be delicious on any type of homemade bread or rolls! I actually really like to serve this was noodles. If I was going to gift this butter to someone, I would wrap it in a bow with a fresh pasta, maybe some olives or garlic bread! Then they have a simple but delicious holiday meal they can enjoy when things get busy!
Cacio E Pepe Butter
Equipment
- Cheese Grater
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
- 2 tablespoons Cracked Black Pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder
Instructions
- In a small bowl, add room temperature butter.1 stick Butter
- Then pour over grated parmesan, freshly cracked black pepper, and garlic powder.1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, 2 tablespoons Cracked Black Pepper, 1/8 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- Stir everything together.
- Add butter mixture to a piece of parchment paper and roll it into a log.
- Keep in the fridge until ready to serve!
- Serve and enjoy!
Browned Butter Maple Cinnamon Butter
We couldn’t finish out a compound butter recipe without a sweet butter! Sweet compound butter feels the most popular to me! I remember a restaurant I went to as a kid had a honey butter that made their rolls truly addicting!
This is a Browned Butter Maple Cinnamon Butter and it’s even better than it sounds! To start with this recipe, you just melt the butter in a small saucepan and let it brown! Browning butter is the act of caramelizing the milk solids in the butter. As the butter melts, the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan, and slowly caramelize. This is what gives the butter that warm golden brown color!
For this recipe, you could really substitute the maple syrup and cinnamon with a number of different flavor combinations! From honey, or agave, or even a sprinkle of brown sugar! As for the spice: nutmeg, pumpkin spice, apple spice, cardamom, cloves, would all be just as delicious in this butter!
There’s a lot of different ways to serve this compound butter, I prefer it on a sweeter bread, such as a cinnamon raisin, but this would be delicious on pancakes, French toast, or even in oatmeal!
Cheers!
-Holly Michelle
Browned Butter Maple Cinnamon Butter
Equipment
- Nonstick Skillet
Ingredients
- 1 stick Butter room temperature
- 2 tablespoons Maple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, allow the butter to melt and brown for about 5-7 minutes.1 stick Butter
- Once the butter is a golden brown amber color, pour into a bowl and let come to room temperature.
- Then stir in maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt.2 tablespoons Maple Syrup, 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- Stir everything together, then add to a piece of a parchment paper.
- Roll the parchment paper over the butter to form a log and then place in the fridge to set.
- Serve and enjoy!
