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!
Video
Nutrition
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~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Oh. My. Stars!!!! I saw this recipe and was skimming through it until I caught your comment about “this is better than the scratch version.” I obviously missed your original post about it so I’m glad you included the link to it. I can hardly wait to get home and try this recipe. I’m going to do the scratch version because I hardly ever buy crescent rolls. I guess I will start my diet tomorrow…again. 🙂
~giggles~ my diet always seems to start tomorrow…LOL!! I hope you enjoy the butter rolls Kim!!
I was with you right up until the “use your common sense” thing. 😉
Lol! Yup. Throwing phrases like that around will trip up the Internet every time 😉 Good to see ya, Katie!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I ASKED MY HUSBAND TO MAKE THESE AND HAVE THEM READY AS SOON AS I GET HOME!!! I EMAILED HIM THE RECIPE. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS RECIPE FOR YEARS!!! MY MOM USED TO MAKE THESE TILL SHE STARTED GETTING ILL. CAN’T WAIT TO GET HOME NOW!!!!
I hope that you enjoy them and they taste just like your Mom’s!!!
Christy, I just made these for dessert tonight and WOW! I can’t tell you how many times we said, “These are sooo good!” Boy, was it difficult to eat only two. My husband’s already planning on heating up what’s left for breakfast tomorrow. Ha, I’m so glad those crescent rolls were on sale and I bought two with a coupon. I’m going to go back and buy more, lol.
I followed the recipe exactly except for using 2% milk instead of whole milk (it’s all I buy). The sauce came out great. I love that there was enough to spoon over the rolls. By the way, I had never heard of butter rolls before, but I knew these looked too good not to try. I’m not much of a baker at all, but this was easy enough even for me. Also, as always, thanks so much for your photos. They’re a big help!
Thanks again for another easy and delicious recipe! You’re the best!
🙂 I am so glad y’all liked them!!!
They are divine! ! I omit cinnamon and go with only sugar. Perfect treat! !
I found an even shorter shortcut! If you cannot wait for the butter to soften, squeeze butter in between fingers till gooey, then place the small lumps on the rolled out crescent dough. Then place the remainder of butter left on fingers on lips (butter is wonderful lip gloss). Then you have accomplished not only breakfast but a beauty treatment as well! My sweet rolls are in the oven as we (I) speak. We shall have buttery sweet goodness on this Columbus Day morning. But Chrity, this is a dangerous recipe, since I was supposed to start my diet this morn; cutting down on cinnamon since I don’t want to be fat… (love all your recipes, wit and humor).
I just found this shortcut recipe. These are fantastic! And the funny thing about them is that i grew up eating them, but my mother didn’t call them butter rolls. She sprinkled on a little bit more cinnamon, included a sprinkle or two in the sauce, and called them cinnamon rolls.