Balsamic Herb Compound Butter

I have this thing for ice cub trays.

See, when I was growing up it was a daily duty (sometimes more than once a day) to empty and refill the ice cube trays. I would pride myself on the careful filled and perfectly portioned ice cubes, which were honestly probably not as great as I remember them being. Regardless, I don’t remember having an ice machine built into a refrigerator the entire time I was living in my parents house, so when I finally DID have one I was beyond excited. Away went the ice cube trays, and a resounding “HELLO!” was said to the extra five minutes a day that I had just earned.

Yesterday I was walking through the grocery store to grab a few things for dinner when I saw a new ice cube tray out of the corner of my eye. We own a few silicone versions that Nate mainly uses to make ice for his Scotch; otherwise we just use the fridge. But I saw these cuties and had to talk myself down from buying them because I doubt an abundance of underused ice cube trays fits into our gradually more minimalist life. Darn if I didn’t want it though!

One thing that I discovered is that you can make perfectly portioned compound butters in those old icy workhorses of yore. I would recommend a silicon version (which I suppose doesn’t make it “of yore” anymore), but you could certainly use a plastic one and wedge the cubes out carefully with a knife. I was a little hesitant when I made this balsamic herb version, but if you follow the directions exactly then you should have no problem. I love having the cubes of butter rather than slices because it just looks so much cleaner and stores so much more easily. A perfect way to enjoy extra flavor with minimal fuss!

You can grab up that balsamic herb compound butter recipe here!