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
At the end of a matter ask,
“What will I learn from this to make me better?”
– Mary Anne Radmacher. Submit your quote here.
My grandmother was considered a “pie queen” by everyone who ever tried any of her pies! She had a very smart neighbor who finally made a written recipe of her crusts by having her throw everything into an empty bowl rather than throwing it in the recipe. Then the neighbor took out each ingredient, measured it, wrote it down, and then added it in with the rest of the ingredients. The pie crust recipe was saved for the rest of us! 🙂 And it’s a good thing, because my grandmother lives 12 hours away! And her teaching me how to make her jellies, etc. over the phone just doesn’t work!!! I can’t see the color she says or the consistency, etc. but I can read a recipe!!! Thanks, Christy, for trying to save these good old recipes for all of us! 🙂
BTW, if you ever are looking for a recipe, I’m sure MANY of us readers also have extensive cookbook collections and would be more than happy to help you try to find recipes! 🙂 Not to mention we would be MORE than happy to be test tasters for you! In fact, I could be at your house in minutes if you ever need anyone!!! 🙂 (that’s a really huge BIG grin!!!) 🙂
I do believe that after our free Chick-fil-A tonight, we just might have these for dessert! YUM!
Christy, I can’t wait to sink my teeffers into these butter rolls!
As JJ would say on Good Times, “Dynomite!”! 😀
Y’all, I gotta tell ya something.
I was feeling a little too human today. I’m pretty tired, been trying to clean a house that seems to “unclean” itself right behind me, emails are piling up and my to do list just seems to grow and never really diminish any. I’m behind on three big projects that I need to get turned in for SP and managed to slip into one of those little funks where I was just waiting to mess something up and have it all crash down on me.
Your comments have felt like one giant bear hug and I’ll be derned if I’m not sitting here grinning like a Cheshire cat.
Thanks for helping me keep it in perspective. I love y’all.
Gratefully,
Christy
I have made these rolls many times and sometimes I add a can of apple pie filling before rolling them up. I discovered the recipe when I was trying to help a friend find something similar to what her mom made about 50 years ago. She was so happy that she was able to have these again.
By the way, I have become a fan of your vintage Pyrex and now have started my collection. I now have 7 or 8 bowls that I have found at yard sales or antique stores. I love them! These are my reminders of day trips or vacations that we make take to nearby states.
Thanks for your great recipes! One of my favorites is your grilled chicken tenders similar to Cracker Barrel’s. I cook these often and everybody loves them.
Christy,I so like your receipes. I was really ill 4 yrs., love to cook. All I could do is dream and read and enjoy your website. It was like I was cooking. I’m much better now, and I am getting better all the time. I made the yummy butter rolls for dinner tonight ( don’t tell, I just ate one, so good ). Thank you for all your encouraging thoughts and the love comes through; keep up the good work. It has helped me through some hard times. God Bless and keep you,, may His face shine upon you. dm
OMG…this sounds like pure heaven!! I am a sucker for any kind of dessert roll. Sticky buns, cinnamon buns, and on and on. I’m going to have to add this to my repertoire now! hehe
I loved the story about how she would just say a lil of this and a lil of that. Sounds like some folks I know and love. And she’s so right….it doesn’t matter as along as the food tastes good. In fact, my mother used to often say that the less appetizing the food looked the more likely I was to eat it, and she was right! hehe Presentation matters to those fancy chefs. Me…as long as it came out ok and tastes good I’m happy! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing a time-honored and almost forgotten treat! I’m definitely going to have to try to make these sometime!!
Christy,
This post reminds me of my mom. She grew up on farms in Kansas; her mother used recipes that she had memorized like a poem or a song. My mother always wished she could have her cake doughnut recipe but she couldn’t remember the whole thing, just:
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
2 eggs beaten fine as silk
Once when she and one of my sisters took a road trip up to Kansas, they were wandering around an old country store and Mom found an old cookbook with that doughnut recipe in it! She was so happy; it was like having a piece of her childhood back.
Anyway, thanks for sharing. I’m looking forward to makin’ me some butter rolls!!
Take care,
Denise
MMMM, I can’t wait to try out this recipe! I’ve never had anything like this before, but it sounds so incredible I may have to make it today! I have Hawaiian Chicken in the crockpot, not sure if it would go with it, but you know any dessert goes with anything, LOL!
I opened my email and saw the words BUTTER ROLL and my heart gave an excited little thump!
You won’t believe this, but just last week… the ladies I work with and I were discussing this restaurant that used to be here in town. Every Wednesday was butter roll day. We’d get lunch… usually fried chicken, some good old fashioned vegetables, cornbread and butter roll for dessert. Barely a word was spoken while we ate… just lots of mmmmm’s and ahhhh’s. LOL
Sadly, they closed down about 7 years ago.
I was lamenting the fact that I have never been able to duplicate their butter roll recipe, or find one that was even close.
From the looks and sound of it… THIS MAY BE IT! I can hardly contain my excitement.
I’m printing this out now so I can try it this weekend.
Thanks so much, Christy!