Compound Butter. You’ve probably eaten it on top of a fancy steak or slathered on a fresh ear of corn. And in reality – it is one of those fancy things that isn’t really fancy at all – at least to make. All you need is some softened butter and your imagination.

I always make a compound butter when I make garlic bread or crostini. It’s a great way to insure all the ingredients are well incorporated, and it is a much higher quality product than spreading some butter and topping with garlic powder.

Last week some good friends came over and we made FOS (French Onion Soup) together. I like making the crostini I put in the soup aromatic, so a compound butter was in order.

This became part of The Accidental Pantry Project as compound butters are one of those wonderful things that you can whip up with whatever is on hand. The method above yields one cup of butter and cost less than $4 to make.