You Have to Try These Breathtaking Compound Butter Recipes

Compound butters are easy to create and can add jaw-dropping beauty to your meals and snacks. Simply put, compound butter is butter mixed with things like herbs, spices and honey to enhance the butter’s flavor.

This adds complementary tastes to most any dish or bread. You will not believe the difference compound butters make — and they are so easy to create. Really.

Here are four butter combinations for you to try, but we recommend making butter flavors that fit your loved ones’ taste buds. Play around. We are butter lovers — some would say butter snobs — at Organic Valley. (If you have tasted our butter, you know why.) So we are happy to dabble in compound butters and share our findings with you.

Herb Butter With Lemon Butter
Honey Cinnamon Butter
Caramelized Onion Butter
Lemon Maple Bourbon Butter

Herb Butter With Lemon Compound Butter

Try this butter on steaks, poultry, bread or seafood (particularly grilled salmon or pan-seared trout). Not only is it tasty but it makes for a truly handsome display.

Ingredients
1 stick Organic Valley butter (salted or unsalted)
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
1 sprig of sage
¼ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon lemon, zested and juiced (be sure not to drop in seeds)

Remove the stems from herbs and finely chop. Add all ingredients and mix together.

Directions for Making Compound Butters

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients. Place the butter on parchment paper. Roll up the butter using the paper until it is a nice log, then twist the ends of the paper. (It may take a little practice until you get it right, but once you have it figured out it’s easy as pie.)

Place the compound butter in the fridge for at least an hour to firm the butter back up. Cut it into servable pieces.

Make a larger batch and freeze what you don’t need at the moment for future use.

Honey Cinnamon Compound Butter

This compound butter is delicious on banana bread, pancakes, waffles, cornbread and more. Seriously, you have to try this. You won’t let one bit go to waste.

Ingredients
1 stick Organic Valley butter (salted or unsalted)
¼ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix and follow above directions.

Caramelized Onion Compound Butter

Organic Valley chef Jason Trahan is obsessed with caramelized onions. He created this recipe and suggests using it on steaks, breads and crackers.

Ingredients
1 stick Organic Valley butter (salted or unsalted), plus butter or Organic Valley Ghee to coat a pan for caramelizing the onion
1 onion
1 tablespoon brown sugar (for onions)
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Dice the onion. Melt a tablespoon of butter or ghee (ghee is a great alternative because of its high smoke point) in a pan on medium heat and add onions and stir. Wait a few minutes and stir again. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until your liking, stirring every few minutes. Add the brown sugar while the onions are warm. Allow the caramelized onions to cool before incorporating with the other ingredients. Add salt, pepper and Worcestershire and follow the same directions as above.

Lemon Maple Bourbon Butter

When she’s not taking photos, you can find Organic Valley photographer Maggie Lemmen in the kitchen. She dabbles in all types of baking, cooking and creating fun drinks. When she heard this photo shoot was coming up, she had to try her hand at compound butter.

Ingredients
1 stick Organic Valley butter (salted or unsalted)
Zest of 1 small lemon
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 ½ ounces bourbon
Edible flower petals

In a small saucepan, simmer the bourbon until it is reduced by half. Add all ingredients and follow the directions above. Garnish with edible flowers.

Making compound butters is not complex and once you start, you’ll want to keep experimenting. Creating these butters can be a calming activity, but it can also be a family activity. Once you create a pleasing flavor, let the children name that type of butter to help keep tabs on your favorites.

Enjoy adding dimension to your cooking and impressing your guests.