Make three types of sweet compound butter flavors including cranberry orange, vanilla pecan, and whipped honey butter. These flavored butters are perfect layered on top of warmed rolls.
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I'm always adding layers of flavor to the food I eat. This includes layering an extra pop of flavor onto homemade bread or rolls. That's exactly why I've created these easy sweet butter recipes.
It's easy to turn a stick of butter into a flavor bomb by adding just a few ingredients. All of these flavored butters can be made with 5 ingredients or less and in under 5 minutes.
If you're looking to jazz up some rolls or want to impress your guests during Thanksgiving dinner, you definitely need to whip up a batch of these homemade compound butters.
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What You'll Learn In This Recipe
- How to make sweet flavored compound butters.
- Tips for storing and serving.
- Why I prefer to use unsalted butter in my recipes.
Want to continue to grow in the kitchen? Try making your own homemade bread with the help of my free guide:
Ingredients You Need
Here are the ingredients you'll need for three varieties of sweet compound butter.
The main ingredients you'll need for every recipe:
- Unsalted butter: I like to control the amount of salt in the recipe, so I use unsalted butter. However, if you prefer to use salted butter, just omit the additional salt called for in the recipe.
- Fine sea salt: I always use fine sea salt because it distributes very well throughout the butter.
- Sweetener: Since these are sweet butter recipes, we add sweeteners like honey or confectioners' sugar.
Check out the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make This Recipe
These sweet compound butters can be made in under 5 minutes. It's a simple process that anyone can do!
Cranberry Orange Honey Butter
1. In a large bowl using an electric hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, dried cranberries, honey, orange peel, and fine sea salt on medium-high speed for 1 - 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
2. Transfer to a serving bowl and optionally add additional cranberries and honey for garnish.
Vanilla Pecan Butter
1. We're using the same process as before! Simply beat butter, chopped pecans, vanilla extract, and fine sea salt until it's light and fluffy.
2. Place the butter in a serving bowl and add some additional pecans for garnish.
Whipped Honey Butter
1. Nothing changes for the last butter, it's the same process! If you don't have access to a mixer, you can get a workout in and hand whisk everything together.
2. I love serving this with more honey and flakey sea salt.
Expert Tips
- Don't microwave the compound butter if it's been sitting in the fridge and you want to quickly soften it. The butter could separate if it's microwaved.
- Instead, if you need the butter to be a spreadable consistency, leave it on the counter until it reaches room temperature.
- I love making all three kinds of butter and placing them on the dinner table so people can pick and choose their favorite flavors. This is especially fun if you're making them for the holidays.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this recipe can be made 14 days ahead of time. Store the butter in the refrigerator in an airtight container. When you're ready to serve, allow the butter to come to room temperature.
If you want the whipped texture, you may need to re-whip the butter after it's sat for an extended period.
Any bread that's neutral in flavor would work well to pair with this compound butter. Two of my favorite rolls to pair with these butters include my honey bread rolls and butter rolls.
Yes, you can definitely use salted butter and just skip the added salt in the recipe. As a recipe developer, I've chosen to use unsalted butter to have more control over the recipe. The amount of salt added to butter is not standardized, therefore some salted butter may have more salt added compared to other brands. As a way to standardize recipes, I always use unsalted butter and then add my own salt.
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Sweet Compound Butters
Equipment
- large bowl
- electric hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
Ingredients
Cranberry Orange Honey Butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup plus more for garnish dried cranberries finely chopped
- ¼ cup plus more for garnish honey
- 1 teaspoon orange peel
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Vanilla Pecan Butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup plus more for garnish pecans finely chopped in a food processor
- 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
- ½ tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Whipped Honey Butter
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup plus more for garnish honey
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Maldon flakey sea salt for garnish (optional)
Instructions
For Cranberry Orange Honey Butter
- In a large bowl using an electric hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, dried cranberries, honey, orange peel, and fine sea salt on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Transfer to a serving bowl. Optionally add additional cranberries and honey for garnish.
For Vanilla Pecan Butter
- In a large bowl using an electric hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, chopped pecans, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract, and fine sea salt on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Transfer to a serving bowl. Optionally add additional pecans for garnish.
For Whipped Honey Butter
- In a large bowl using an electric hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, honey, and fine sea salt on medium high speed until light and fluffy. Transfer to a serving bowl. Optionally add additional honey and flakey sea salt for garnish.
Hannah
My friends and I made this for a dinner party and we loved them all!
Erica
I made all three sweet compound butters to go with our Thanksgiving rolls. They were a huge hit and everyone loved them!