Festive Individual Pats of Butter

Here's a last-minute trick for thanksgiving dinner.A lot of times people forget about butter for the delicious homemade rolls so they plop a stick of butter on a plate in the middle of table, unfortunately it's rock-hard an so no one is able to use it anyway.

So what you really need are those individual pats of butter like they have at hotel continental breakfasts.  Here's how to make your own--but cuter and way more festive than the little foil-wrapped things.

Take two sticks of butter and place them between two sheets of waxed paper.  Start rolling.

Roll between 1/2 and 1/4 inch thick.  Remove the top layer of wax paper. 

Cut into individual pats of butter with miniature cookie cutters. I used the fall leaves set.

You can do these a day or two in advance and keep them covered in the fridge. The good thing is if you forget to set them on the table until right before dinner they will still soften up enough to spread because they are so small.  Plus, they really are festive.