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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My great Aunt Sudie used to make Chocolate Rolls for me everytime I went to her house. Since her passing in 2006 we moved into the homeplace and I just wish those walls could talk! She never had a recipe but they always tasted so good! I watched her dozens of times but never wrote anything down. I have tried the cocoa instead of the cinammon, but the sauce was like chocolate gravy not just a milk sauce. In fact it tasted exactly like chocolate gravy. I have got to try just making the chocolate gravy a little thinner to withstand the baking time . Do you think it will work? Thanks for your website. I am a true southern girl that loves to cook old timey foods!
Thank you so much for this recipe! My Grandmother use to make this but she never really had a recipe, she was a “dump cook” and the most precious thing in my world. After she passed, I grew up and wanted to make this for my family….I couldn’t find the “right” recipe…until now! You have made this Grandmother very happy, now I can share a treasured memory with my Grandkids. Thank you again.
I hope you enjoy the rolls Toni!! Making memories with those you love is so important and I know that your grandchildren will treasure the ones you are making with them for the rest of their lives!
Lordamercy, I’ve been trying to get this recipe from my Aunties for ages. My Mawmaw made this pretty frequently, but I never learnt the recipe. Like some others, she didn’t make them ‘cinnamon roll’ style, but just laid ’em in kinda ball shapes. I worked graveyard shift up at the hospital and would wake from a dead sleep on the days she made butter roll! Thank you so much for sharing this. Now, I’m thinking I should reblog this post over at my blog. Everyone, especially us from the South, needs to have this recipe!
I am so glad you found it Jim!!I hope you get to try them soon, can’t wait to hear what you think!
Christy you are a God send. I moved to Memphis,Tn twelve years ago from Mississippi. I work in a salon and have been telling people about butter rolls that I learned to make from my mom and they had no idea what I was talking about. I have shared your recipe with all the ladies in the salon. Thank you for posting this step by step recipe. Now they can’t go wrong. This is exactly how I make mines.
Wow! I baked them just now, and they came out perfect! Just like in the picture!
First time ever i tried those, and very easy to make. Thanks for posting this!!! And with the pictures, u can’t go wrong!
I am so glad to hear that you liked them Alexandra!!!
I did it! :-D. Thanks Christie.
I made my butter roll yesterday and it tastes just like moms. It came great. Now we can enjoy it again. Its ssooo good! I think I’ll try making it with a non sweetened sugar. 🙂
YAY!!! I am so proud of you Cindii!!! Glad to hear they turned out just as you had hoped!!
Woa! We grew up on this dessert (my siblings and I).
My mom is from the south so it was a special treat for us. 😀 This was one dessert the kids on our block didn’t have…or probably didn’t even know about.
There are a few things that my mom did differently. First, the dough was rolled out flat then cut into squares. Each square got a pat of butter (or margarine) then a very generous sprinkle of sugar to taste. Then instead of cinnamon she used nutmeg lol! Yes, nutmeg!
Each square is folded neatly then placed in a pan. Milk is then poured into the pan until only the tips of the dough is peeking out. When it starts to rise the tips are golden brown, the milk is hot and buttery and that spicy nutmeg aroma fills the kitchen.
What a warm tasty treat on a cold fall or winter day!
I think I’ll try to make one right now! Thanks for the recipe on how to make the crust. We kids never learned how.:-)