Old-Fashioned Butter Rolls
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This old-fashioned butter rolls recipe is something else. A Southern dessert specialty, it includes tender and moist cinnamon-spiced rolls in a creamy sweet custard-like sauce.
Some of our most beloved Southern dishes begin with flour. Biscuits, milk gravy, chicken and dumplings, and today’s recipe: old-fashioned butter rolls. I wish I could say I’d grown up eating butter rolls but the truth is I had this dessert for the first time about 10 years ago, thanks to my Grandmama.
So, what is a butter roll? Trust me when I say, it’s like heaven on a plate. If that isn’t a good enough description, its closest relative is a cinnamon roll. However, it’s baked in a rich homemade custard sauce that stays just runny enough to be considered kind of a custard gravy of sorts. They’re ooey-gooey, tender, and absolutely delicious. Oh Lawd, you need to make these.
Fortunately, they’re a relatively easy dessert to whip together using everyday ingredients like milk, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and butter, of course. By the way, like so many of my other dessert recipes on Southern Plate, you can use Splenda in this one. Just remember that the key to cutting down on the artificially sweetened taste is to use just a hair less than the recipe calls for (remove one or two tablespoons per cup) and be sure you don’t pack it. Splenda should be measured out light and fluffy.
After you give this butter roll recipe a go, feel free to use your favorite biscuit dough or even experiment with canned biscuits. It’s really easy and fuss-free. You may also enjoy this version using a shortcut (also known as Crescent Rolls).
Before we get baking, I have a favor to ask. Since this is a nearly forgotten recipe of days gone by, help me bring it back again so it won’t be lost to future generations. If you enjoy it, please pass this recipe for old-fashioned butter rolls on.
Recipe Ingredients
- Milk
- Sugar
- Self-rising flour
- Vanilla extract
- Shortening
- Cinnamon
- Butter at room temperature
How to Make Old-Fashioned Butter Rolls
Place your flour in a large bowl along with the shortening.
Cut shortening in with a fork…
until combined well, like this.
Pour in your milk.
Stir well.
Spray your pan.
You don’t have to do this but I was in the mood.
Put some flour on a clean countertop or wherever you feel like doing this.
You can use whatever biscuit dough is your favorite or just go by this recipe. This one is gonna hold up a little better in our sauce because it’s a little drier.
Press it together to form a ball.
Then pat it out with your hands a bit and roll it out into a rectangle-type object.
Notice I didn’t get too particular here. This is an old-fashioned Southern dessert and I figure Granny was busy with kids underfoot and hungry folks marching in the door. Back in those days folks cooked their food, not built a shrine to it.
Now we’re gonna smear our butter on the rolled-out biscuit dough.
All y’all who are on the real butter bandwagon need to give me my gold star today :).
Generously sprinkle all of our sugar over it.
Then comes the cinnamon, just a hint.
The dough and sauce mixed together with the butter and vanilla are going to have the most lovely flavor on their own!
Now roll that up.
Cut it in about one-inch slices (one inch-ish).
Remember, this is old-fashioned food. It’s not supposed to look a certain way, it’s just supposed to taste good.
Place your old-fashioned butter rolls into the prepared baking dish.
Now it’s time to make the sauce!
Add the milk to a saucepan, along with…
The sugar and…
The vanilla extract.
Stir that over low to medium heat until the milk is hot and the sugar dissolves.
Pour the milk sauce over your old-fashioned butter rolls.
Oh my.
I hope you’ve tasted the sauce by now.
If you haven’t, go ahead, I won’t look. ~covers eyes and grins~
Bake at 350 for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Grab one of your butter rolls, place it on a plate to serve, and…
Spoon more sauce on them. Enjoy real old-fashioned goodness, from Granny’s kitchen to yours.
Storage
These butter rolls definitely taste the best hot out of the oven. But if you do have leftovers, you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. The roll might get soggy sitting in the sauce, so I’d recommend reheating in the oven to crisp it up once more.
Recipe Notes
- To make your own self-rising flour, see my FAQ page. Speaking of, I use a lot of both plain and self-rising flour at my house and have been known to dump whatever I grabbed first into my flour canister when it got empty. Sometimes I lose track of what is in there and need to know if it’s plain or self-rising. There is an easy fix. Dip your finger into the flour and lick it. If it tastes salty, it is self-rising. If it tastes bland, it is plain. I have to do this at least once a week but I’m perfectly alright with that because I decided long ago that being disorganized was just part of my charm. ~grins~
- If you don’t have shortening on hand, you can substitute it for an equal amount of butter.
- You can also substitute the ground cinnamon for ground nutmeg, or use a pinch of each.
- For something different, add some finely chopped apple, raisins, or chopped nuts to the filling.
You may also enjoy these other delectable old-fashioned dessert recipes:
Ole Fashioned Southern Sugar Plum Cake
Peanut Butter Pie Made the Old-Fashioned Way
Homemade Chocolate Pudding, Southern-Style
Easy Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler Recipe
Ingredients
Butter Rolls
- 2 cups self-rising flour
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 stick butter, softened can use margarine
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Milk Sauce
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Cut the shortening into the flour really well with a fork. Stir in the milk.2 cups self-rising flour, 1/2 cup shortening, 1/2 cup milk
- On a floured surface, dump out the dough and press together with your hands to form a ball.
- Roll out into a rectangle (about 7×10 in size). Spread softened butter over dough and then sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over the top. Roll it up like a jelly roll and press it together lightly.1 stick butter, softened, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Cut into nine slices about one inch thick each. Place into a lightly greased 8×8 baking dish.
- In a medium saucepan, combine all of the milk sauce ingredients. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture begins to bubble lightly. Pour over the rolls in the pan.2 cups milk, 2/3 cups sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until rolls are golden brown on top.
- Allow them to sit for a few minutes once done so the rolls soak up more sauce. After you put each roll on a plate, spoon more sauce over it.
Nutrition
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– Mary Anne Radmacher. Submit your quote here.
Christy – your grandmother and mine had so many of the same recipes! We lost my grandmother 10 years ago in Sept and still miss her so much. My mom and I were making your fried pies together a couple of weeks ago, and she was wondering if you had a butter roll recipe because my grandmother (her mom) used to make one that she loved. I am SOOO happy to find this recipe to share with her. TKU oh so much!!
Maria do you have a recipe for chocolate fried pie that does not a pudding filling?
I now have a quick go to dessert recipe for my husband, who has a sweet tooth. I learned to make biscuits from my grandmother who never measured anything except with her fingers, her palm, or a teacup. and doughs were ready when they felt right, it is hard to describe the feel to someone who doesn’t understand. and besides, they never ever owned a pastry cutter, how could you know if the feel was right if you didn’t feel it? I can afford a pastry cutter but I don’t own one and will never buy one either.
Christy, I originally went to college to be a home ec teacher but changed majors. My college foods professor on the first day of class asked us if we knew how to tell if an egg was raw or hard boiled without breaking it. I was the only person who raised my hand. momma taught me, spin it, if it wobbles it is raw and if it spins like a top it is cooked. purely physics and changing center of gravity in the raw egg. The professor upset that I had stolen her thunder said it only worked on a wooden table, however we all know that is wrong.
This tidbit is good to know at Easter time if you get your eggs mixed up in the icebox.
We sure do know Kathy!! What did you end up changing your major too?
My grandmother used to make these…but used the very cheap canned biscuits. The “name brand” canned biscuits didn’t work as well. haha She would roll out each biscuit very thin, then place two pats of butter, a teaspoon of sugar and a cap full of vanilla on each biscuit. She would pull up the sides and pinch them together to form a litte napsack. Flip them over and place them in a buttered cake pan. Once all the little napsacks of goodness were made and placed in the pan, she would add a few more pats of butter scattered about and then pour warm whole milk in the cake pan, creating that warm bath.
Just for ME, she would do the same thing again, but adding a teaspoon of love (cocoa) to each napsack. She only made chocolate butter rolls for her favorite! haha I loved watching and helping as she cooked and baked.
I’ve had these, but not in years! Thank you for sharing the recipe! I am going to make them soon. Maybe even today!
I love that you have all these NE Alabama recipes. Most people I know have never even heard of so many of these recipes, and my Grandmother can no longer remember them. 🙁 I am working hard to collect and recreate old family recipes so that my generation of cousins and our kids can share with the next generations. Thank you!
What a wonderful project, your family will appreciate all of your efforts for years to come!
I am soooooo glad I found you, I have been looking for you and your recipes for ages and ages ( I’m 68 so it has been a long time, hehe) Really, I have been looking for “down home” recipes and your’s are perfect.
Thank you for the Butter Rolls recipe, I’m fixing them tonight, they sound too good. Meaning I’ll eat too many but what the heck.
Christy, this made me tear up. This sounds just like my Aunt Kate’s recipe. Like you, I found her recipe in an old church cookbook – Chalkhead Baptist Church in Ozark, AL – a couple of years ago. I got so excited when I found the entry and then just died laughing. The recipe reads like this:
Eggs
Milk
Flour
Butter
Sugar
Vanilla
That was it! No instructions on preparation or cooking time or ANYTHING. Thanks so much for sharing. I’m so glad I asked you about them. If I think of any other lost recipes I will come to The Source.
xoxo
Debra
My grandma made a butter roll dessert for us as children growing up. Her way of making them was the same as yours except for the way she did her dough. Grandma cut about 2-inch wide strips with the length varying depending on what size pan she would bake them in. She would slice up butter and line in the center of the 2-inch strips, sprinkle her sugar and cinnamon over the butter, fold the strips in half, and then seal the edges by pinching them together. Quite often she would add more of the milk sauce to the butter roll as it cooked. It was sooooo delicious. I want to try making them your way too and I bet they’re just as womderful.
Correct…family makes these every year for family reunions great conversations and love are discussed while eating these. This is what I remember. Family members are from deep down in south Texas, in their early 40’s and they have the recipe to a science always same great taste.