Butter adds richness and deliciousness to just about anything, right?  Julia Child surely thought so, as evidenced by her statement “With enough butter, anything is good.”

Yes, butter is awesome on its own, but why not jazz it up, especially for that holiday dinner where you’ll be serving your warm, homemade rolls?

Flavored (a.k.a. compound) butters are simply mixtures of soft butter and herbs or other tasty ingredients like citrus zest, dried spices, cheese, hot sauce, or preserves.  They’re especially good on grilled things like meat, fish or veggies and can make anything you pair them with really shine (picture a chargrilled steak with a dab of spicy butter melting on top, or some nicely grilled zucchini slathered in lemon and herb-infused butter).  Yum.

These butters can be served on the table as a soft mixture in a cute little pot for dipping into with a spoon, or rolled into logs of parchment/plastic wrap and kept in the fridge so you can slice off what you need for serving.

These butters are so easy to make.  Simply put room temperature butter into a little bowl, then mix in whatever sounds tasty to you.  See?  Easy.

You can get as creative as you want.  And once you try it, you’ll probably find yourself slathering it onto just about everything.

To get you started, here are some tasty combos, all starting with 1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature:

1 Tb. fresh ginger, peeled & grated
1 Tb. lime zest
1/2 tsp. kosher or fine sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 Tb. fresh dill, minced
1 Tb. lemon or orange zest (or a combination of both!)
1/2 tsp. kosher or fine sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 Tb. fresh chives, minced
1 Tb. fresh thyme, minced
1 Tb. fresh rosemary, minced
1 Tb. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. kosher or fine sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper (optional)

For Beef (or maybe Veggies?):
1 garlic clove, peeled & minced
2-3 Tb. fresh parsley, minced
1 Tb. fresh rosemary and thyme, minced
1 tsp. kosher or fine sea salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp. Ancho chile powder
Zest of 1 lime
1/4 tsp. kosher or fine sea salt

2 Tb. minced sun-dried tomatoes (in oil)
1 garlic clove, peeled & minced
1 Tb. fresh parsley, minced
Pinch kosher or fine sea salt

1 garlic clove, peeled & minced
3-4 Tb. crumbled Bleu cheese
1 tsp. fresh chives, minced
1 tsp. fresh parsley, minced
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
Pinch kosher or fine sea salt