Butter Roll Dessert Recipe With Crescent Rolls
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My shortcut Southern butter roll dessert recipe includes flaky crescent roll dough with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling baked in a deliciously sweet sauce.
The Southern Plate Family is plum full, brimming over actually, with brilliant people. I’m talking about you, y’all, and all of us collectively. Seriously, y’all have the best ideas! So when I posted my old-fashioned butter roll recipe on Southern Plate Family’s Facebook page recently, I had a few comments and emails about how some folks make them with crescent roll dough.
I was intrigued. I was inspired. And most importantly, I was hungry. So I took my intrigued, inspired, and hungry self into the kitchen and decided to give it a go. My mother called every five minutes to check on the progress. My house began to smell like it was placed two steps from the gates of Heaven. Then I pulled them butter rolls from the oven and had a taste while they were so hot steam was coming off my fork. Mama called and I told her, “I do not say this lightly, but these are actually better than the from-scratch version.”
Now, in case you don’t know what a Southern butter roll dessert recipe entails, let me tell you ALL about how delicious they are! Our crescent roll dough is filled with a buttery cinnamon sugar filling, then we bake it in a vanilla-flavored milk sauce. It’s a little bit thinner than a custard but just as delicious. Can you just picture the combination of a flaky butter roll with a sweet sauce? It’s the best, y’all.
So, if you’re not in your kitchen already making this butter roll dessert recipe, I’m not quite sure what is keeping you!
Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Crescent roll dough
- Cinnamon
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Butter
How to Make Butter Rolls With Crescent Rolls
What you need to start…
To start, you’re gonna need a surface to roll all this out onto. Usually, I get some waxed paper and sprinkle a little flour on it but I felt like being even easier today so I just grabbed a baking sheet and sprayed it with cooking spray.
Place your crescent roll dough on the greased or floured surface.
Roll it out and press the seams together so it is one big old sheet of dough.
Spread that whole thing with softened butter.
Don’t spread all the way to the edge but leave about 1/2 an inch all around.
Sprinkle that with sugar.
Sprinkle a wee bit of cinnamon over it if you like. You can also leave this off.
Roll that up longways and press it together a little bit with your hands.
Cut that into 10 or 12 pieces.
Just see where your knife ends up and cut. It doesn’t make no never mind if you have 9, 10, or 12 slices.
Spray an 8-inch round pan (a cake pan works fine) with cooking spray.
Place your slices in it.
Place milk and vanilla in a microwave-proof measuring cup and heat it in the microwave for about a minute or until it is very warm.
Stir your sugar into the warm milk and keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour the over the rolls.
Place this in a 350-degree oven and bake until rolls are golden brown (about 30-35 minutes).
I like to serve these warm as dessert at the end of a good country meal, but they are also delightful for breakfast or a coffee snack.
Just eat one. And then another. And you should probably have at least a third or fourth, just for quality control purposes, before serving them to your family, if there are any left!
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. You can quickly reheat them in the microwave, oven, or the air fryer.
Recipe Notes
- You can use Swerve as a replacement for sugar in this whole recipe if you like. A lot of folks have been on a Stevia kick lately so I gave it a go but Stevia is definitely not for me. Of course, if you have a favorite sweetener and want to try that, go for it. I’ve only done it with Swerve so I can’t speak for any others from a personal account.
- For more flavor, add 1/2 teaspoon of ground nutmeg when you sprinkle on the ground cinnamon.
- If you like, you can also add some finely chopped apples, raisins, or chopped nuts to the filling.
Check out these other scrumptious Southern desserts:
Chocolate Chip Biscuits, Southern-Style
Ole Fashioned Southern Sugar Plum Cake
Mini Boston Cream Pies, Southern-Style
Lemon Chess Pie: A Southern Family Tradition
Homemade Chocolate Pudding, Southern-Style
Ingredients
- 1 8-ounce can crescent roll rough
- 1/4 cup softened unsalted butter or margarine
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Milk Sauce
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Roll out the crescent roll dough onto a greased or floured surface and press seams together.1 8-ounce can crescent roll rough
- Spread softened butter over the dough, leaving 1/2-inch of space at the edges on all sides. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Roll up longways and squeeze lightly with hands to seal.1/4 cup softened unsalted butter or margarine, 1/8 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- Cut into 10-12 slices and place slices in a greased 8-inch round pan or cake pan.
- Place milk and vanilla in a measuring cup and heat in the microwave until very warm. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour over the rolls.1 cup whole milk, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown on top. Once removed from the oven, let them sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
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Nutrition
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We make these by making regular biscuit dough to make the rolls. Everything else is the same as your recipe. My family LOVES them. Will have to give this recipe a try.
Let me know what you think when you get the chance to try them Janice!
This is an old family favorite. LOVE this, grew up with my granny making these often. Of course she made her dough from scratch. If you make homemade biscuits you can make homemade butter roll. just substitute biscuit dough rolled out super thin. yummy!!
These look very tasty! I can hardly wait to try them!!
I use a couple tbsp vinegar and use buttermilk to make a sweet-sour roll. Can use a little more vinegar to your taste.
I have seen lots of recipes using crescent roll dough, I’m Australian & it is not available here can you tell me if it is a short crust or puff pastry type of dough? If it is neither is there a from scratch recipe for it, thanks
My mom made these and she used regular biscuit dough. ( self-rising Flour, shortening, and milk). Then did as the recipe suggested except she used boiling water instead of milk and no cinnamon. I am going to try the short cut recipe.
There is a scratch recipe on Southern Plate. I don’t think pie pastry would be the same.
I’m so sorry I missed this question! Tabitha is right, a pie pastry wouldn’t yield the same results. However, here is a scratch recipe that should work: https://www.southernplate.com/2010/04/old-timey-butter-roll-dessert.html
The shortcut butter rolls are wonderful! I made them for the first time this evening and my husband who never, and I mean never ever eats sweets had 2! I did make one substitution, I’m not a cinnamon fan and I knew I wouldn’t like it with straight cinnamon so I used apple pie spice. It does have cinnamon, but it is not too cinnamony. Thank for the wonderful recipe!
I am so glad to hear that you enjoyed them Annette!!!
Remember having this as a child growing up, but for some reason at 42 years of age, I have never made it myself. I’m changing that right now. It’s in the oven for breakfast as I type. Can’t wait for my family to try it! 🙂 Thanks for the recipe, Christy.
Oh my goodness, I can’t wait to hear what they say Mary!!