Compound butter, or finishing butter, is a compound delight: It makes everything it touches taste better. It can be served in pats or melted into a sauce. They are meant to be decorative: not simply melted butter, but punctuated with seasonings and/or color.

Compound butters are an easy, prepared-in-advance alternative to sauces. Learn all about compound butter in our review of Epicurean Butter, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. It includes the recipe for making your own compound butters.

• More compound butter recipes.
• See all the different types of butter in our Butter Glossary.
• Here are holiday butter recipes.

Photo courtesy Allen Brothers, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

• Read our review of D’Artagnan Truffle Butter, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Will pie be the cupcake of 2011? Photo
courtesy WildBlueberries.com.

Pies, both sweet and savory, will be the top restaurant trend in 2011, predicts restaurant consultant Andrew Freeman & Co.

“If I had one trend—one trend—of the year that I could predict, [it] would be the trend for pie,” said Freeman. “I think that we’re going to make room for pie shops in the next year. This is not just sweet pies, this is savory pies, bite-sized pies. I’ll eat pie if I don’t get this one right….” (Hey, is that a punishment?)

While some restaurants are known for their pies—for example, upscale chicken restos like Pies & Thighs and Hill Country Chicken in New York City—we haven’t seen any pie bakeries yet. But they would be a welcome alternative to the still-mushrooming number of cupcake shops.

Read the full article in Nation’s Restaurant News, which suggests additional food trends.

• Find many types of pies in our gorgeous Pie & Pastry Glossary.
• See our favorite pies and pie recipes in our Pie & Pastry Section.

Love it even more with a sprinkling of your favorite fresh herbs or spices. They add a rush of flavor and aroma with virtually no calories.

Herbs are also very nutritious, adding vitamins and minerals to the meal.

• We love the classics: shredded basil; snipped dill, chive and rosemary; chopped parsley
• To spice it up, try a combination of crushed red pepper and fresh-ground black pepper
• If chives aren’t enough for the onion lovers in your household, use sliced green onion or chopped red onion

You can serve one or more herbs in ramekins and let everyone customize his/her baked potato. While the photo shows a light sprinkling, pile up as much as you like.

Fresh herbs add flavor, nutrition and
no calories! Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board.

Substitute nonfat Greek yogurt for the sour cream. It’s very creamy with no fat or cholesterol. Most Greek yogurt is very low in tanginess as well, making it even more like sour cream. Try it!

We can’t wait for Christmas cookies!
Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing
Board. Get the recipe.

Then apply to receive a Party Pack from Hershey’s. One thousand winners will receive:

• One Hershey’s holiday apron
• Three packages of Hershey’s Kisses chocolates
• One container of Hershey’s Cocoa
• One box of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
• Fifteen Hershey’s bakery boxes for guests to carry their favorite cookies home
• Fifteen (15) HERSHEY’S recipe books

Total approximate retail value: $49.50.

To apply, you’ve got to provide your address and answer a brief questionnaire. And you’ve got to do it by 11:59:59 pm EST on November 15, 2010.

• Apply to host a cookie exchange. You’ll also find tips for hosting a party and many recipes.
• See our favorite cookie recipes, including lots of holiday cookies.

Updated July 2026

Can’t decide between pizza and lasagne?

World Champion Pizza Maker Theo Kalogeracos from Australia has solved the problem: He invented the pisagne (pee-ZAH-nyeh).

The concept is really quite simple: Top a pizza crust with lasagne ingredients.

Below:

> Recipe: pisagne, pizza + lasagna.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> More lasagna recipes.

> Very different ways to adapt lasagna.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of lasagna.

> More lasagna recipes.

> The history of pasta.

> The different types of pasta: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 20+ pasta holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: PISAGNE

We created our own recipe after reading about it. You can roll the dough as thick or as thin as you like.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 500°F.

2. COVER the pizza crust with the sauce. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella and then add a layer of seasoned ricotta cheese. (We added 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil per cup of ricotta.

3. JUDGE how many lasagna noodles you’ll need based on the size of your pie. Cook the noodles to al dente, drain, and pat dry. You can either trim them to fit on the crust, or cut them into 2″ pieces.

4. ADD the noodles to the pie and top with more Bolognese sauce. Bake until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted.

5. GARNISH with shaved Parmesan cheese and a chiffonade of fresh basil. Cut and serve.
 

[4] How to chiffonade (photo: The Nibble).

[1] The pisagne, a lasagne pizza (photo © Theo Kalogeracos).

[2] DeLallo’s version of lasagna pizza. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

[3] Use a Parmesan aged 12 months or less; it will be the most elastic. Let the wedge or slice warm to counter temperature. Then, use standard vegetable peeler or a cheese plane to press the sharp blade firmly against the flat side and pull down in a smooth, continuous motion (photo: The Nibble).

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.