Growing up my mom would always make the best butterhorn rolls for the holidays. The recipe came from the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook, I believe. Once I was off on my own I followed what I thought was the same recipe in my version of the same cookbook…but they never quite tasted the same. Then, one year, my mom was looking at the recipe and she noticed they had actually changed it in the newer version of the cookbook. No wonder! But, since we’ve made that discovery, her cookbooks have been packed away in a storage unit and I haven’t been able to get my hands on the recipe.
Last Thanksgiving, our friends Peter and Nikki invited us over for Thanksgiving and took on the task of making homemade rolls. Their crescent rolls (which I guess are the same as butterhorn…I have no idea!) were DELICIOUS…better than mine, definitely rivaled my mom’s. Who knows, it might even be the same recipe that my mom used to use!
Until that old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook sees the light of day once again, I’m sticking with this recipe from Nikki.
P.S. This recipe is easy enough that I always end up making at least one more batch a day or two after whichever holiday we’ve made them for. We just can’t get enough and I don’t mind making them one bit!
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast, dissolved in ¼ cup very warm water (let yeast sit in water until it’s all foamy and dissolved)
- ¼ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup milk
- ¼ cup sugar
- 3 eggs
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 4-4½ cup flour
- Mix all the ingredients except the flour in your KitchenAid mixer with the paddle attachment or with your beaters. Slowly mix in the flour. Knead dough or mix on speed 1 or 2 with the dough hook on your KitchenAid (when I knead with the KitchenAid I let it go about 5 minutes). Let rise to double in size in a bowl, about an hour or so (cover the bowl with a light, clean towel and let rise in a warm/non-drafty place).
- Punch dough down. Divide into two. Roll each piece of dough into a large circle, that is quite thin (1/8”³ – ¼”³). If you like a buttery flavor, brush melted butter onto the dough at this time, although they are great either way. Cut the dough like pizza into 16 pieces (you will end up with 32 rolls total). Roll each piece from the large end of the triangle and place on an ungreased cookie sheet or a silpat-lined cookie sheet with the tip tucked down and under the roll. Let rise again until about double in size, or about an hour or so (cover the rolls with a light, clean towel and let rise in a warm/non-drafty place).
- Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until browned on top and bottom.
Hi! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and count on you to share yours! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
sounds good printing it off to make some this weekend going to try to see if I can make it vegan 🙂
if you make it vegan, be sure to report back on how it goes! 🙂
These sound so delicious! Definitely keeping these on file 🙂
I just imported this to my e-recipe book. They look absolutly amazing and I can’t wait to make some.. now the question is, what should I have with them? The opportunities are endless…
Hi Jane – here is the recepie from the really OLD Better Homes and Gardens book – close to the one you have here but slightly different.
Soften 1 package active dry yeast in 1/4 cup warm water (110*). Combine 3/4 cup milk, scalded, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons salt; cool to lukewarm. Add 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour. Add yeast and 3 eggs; beat well.
Stir in 3 1/2 to 3 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, or enough to make soft dough. Knead lightly on floured surface 5 – 8 minutes.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning once to grease surface; cover and let rise till double (about 2 1/2 hours). Turn out on lightly floured surface. Divide dough in thirds; roll each third to 12 inch circle. Follow shaping directions in drawing. (i.e., cut circle into 12 wedges – like you would cut a pizza then roll into individual crescent roll shape going from large end to small).
Arrange rolls, point down, on greased baking sheets; brush wihth melted butter. Cover and let rise till very light (about 1 hour). Bake in hot oven (400*) 10-12 minutes. Makes 3 dozen rolls.
These are delicious especially if you put more butter on them!!!
yippee! thanks, mom!
everyone…this is the original recipe I was talking about, so now you have both! 🙂
Thank you SO much! Someone took out THREE pages from my ancient BHG recipe book! Thank you! â¤ï¸â¤ï¸â¤ï¸ Happy Thanksgiving!
Jane, you read my mind with rolls! I’ve wanted to make some sort of homemade bread on my next day off work…Saturday! These sound like I won’t need all day! They look fantastic!
And might I add…
I L-O-V-E your blog. I get all excited when I see you’ve made a new post. I love the meal plan, gleaning your tips, reading the plans/recipes/tips/stories from readers, too! With all the food blogs that exist, I must say, I am a very loyal This Week for Dinner reader! You rock, chica! 🙂
I have just printed this recipe and cannot wait until I can make them. Bit of a waste for just my hubby and I. Best invite some folks over soon.
🙂 Mandy
Homemade rolls are NEVER a waste – and you will eat every one of these rolls – I promise!
Nothing says holiday season (read: September to May) like my mom’s crescent rolls. As soon as the temperature threatens to drop to fall-like levels, I start making them and don’t stop until after Easter!
Yay for the crescent rolls! These are very tasty. They are from Peter’s mom, Diann. I’m not sure where she got the recipe. But yes, before I knew the basics of bread/roll making, I looked at the recipe, which was just a short list of ingredients, really, and immediately called her for more details. 🙂
Looks DELICIOUS. Will use these as snacks for the coming party.
My mom made Butterhorns a million times!
tonight I doubled the recipe for a large crowd and we used half the batch to make rolls (they were superb) and the other half to make cinnamon buns! The dough was PERFECT for the buns – an absolute hit!
These are so adorable and puffed-up, and I’m sure they taste amazing too!
These are so pretty! They look so soft and buttery. I definitely need to try these out.
These look amazing. I’m looking for my perfect dinner roll recipe. Thanks for sharing this one. I can’t wait to give yours a try 😉
Why do they have to go and update such a good recipe? It sounds like they (BH&G) should have left it the original. I am such a sucker for a good roll. I will have to try out this recipe.
I know! why mess with a good thing, right? so strange!
Hey Jane!
So I am in the middle of making these rolls and my dough hasn’t really risen that much :(. It’s been close to two hours. I just tested my yeast, first how I normally make it with just warm water at 110 degrees and I noticed it was dissolving but not foaming. So then I tried it again with a little sugar added and it foamed right up! So my yeast is active…but when I poured the yeast in to make the dough it wasn’t foamy. I wonder if it has to be foamy to work in the dough? Ever had this problem? 🙂
Hi Stacey!
I have no idea why it’s not working! I made these three times this weekend. Batch #1 with old yeast that wasn’t rising well, which I didn’t realize until…Batch #2 when they hardly rose at all AND I forgot the sugar, so they tasted okay, but not great. So, before Batch #3, I hit the store, bought brand new yeast and this batch came out how the rolls are SUPPOSED to come out. 🙂
If you know your yeast is good, then I honestly don’t know what it could be. Once I bought new yeast, the recipe worked like a charm like it always had before. Do you know how old the yeast is? maybe it’s active but just not AS active as it used to be? When I made Batch #3 yesterday, the yeast didn’t foam that much, but I did wait until it was complete dissolved and there were some bubbles.
so…I guess the SHORT answer is I did have this problem and it was when I used older yeast. and that’s all I’ve got! 🙂
Thanks Jane 🙂
So they actually turned out really yummy! They looked just like your picture 🙂 I was excited. I let them rise on the pan for almost two hours on the warm stove and they puffed up nice and plump. I think you are right though, I bought the Costco thing of yeast and put it in a container in the fridge. It is probably 4 or so month old. I think it’s just a little slow to rise.
I made beef stew (your recipe), with those rolls tonight. It was delicious, husband was a big fan. Success 🙂 Thank you!!!
PHEW!!!! so glad they came out and so glad the stew was good too! 🙂
Can you just use the kitchen aid with the beaters. Or should you use the dough hook?
I would recommend the dough hook – it turns and folds the dough to replicate the kneading process. the paddle attachment is made for mixing, not kneading. so, if you have the dough hook, I would use it! 🙂
Making these for Thanksgiving this year as well as the pumpkin cheesecake…thanks for the great recipes!
fill these rolls with cream cheese frosting and put a glaze on them. they make OMG yummy!
are you kidding? that sounds amazing!!!
Can you use the same ingredients to make dinner rolls?
I’m sure the dough could be used to make regular shaped dinner rolls no problem!
Ok, so I found this just today. I am going gluten free and laughing because I just said that I would have to eat gluten in croissants because I don’t know how to make them! Well, now I do. Just have to tweak it to be gluten free!
Hey! I’m a bread making virgin 🙂 I use crescent rolls in a lot of my recipes, but I’m trying to get away from store-bought chemical junk. Can the dough for this be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge to use later (not as rolls, but as the “crust” for a recipe) or will that ruin the dough?
hi christa!
I think if you refrigerated it, you could probably keep it in the fridge for a couple days, but probably not too long. problem #1: it will keep rising (albeit slowly). problem #2: it will probably start to dry out at some point unless sealed really well.
I would recommend freezing to use later. freezing is magical. 😉 depending on how you want to use the dough later, I would just shape it or store it tailored to those needs. but I think that should work well! you just need to make sure you take the dough out of the freezer with a few hours to spare – maybe in the morning before you use it.
I hope this is helpful and does work for you. keep me posted!
I keep my “Sam’s Club” yeast in the freezer and it’s never failed me yet. Just take out what I need and stash the rest back in the freezer.
Making these for pigs in a blanket right now. They Smell sooooooo amazing (no offense to Pillsbury lol) and they were so simple to make, turned out nice and fluffy when they came out. My four year old and 1 year old approve!
what a great idea to do pigs in a blanket with them – yum! sooooo glad you love the recipe, yay!
Just checking in and letting you know I still make these butterhorns after all these years!! 🙂 This time it’s for a soccer tailgate. Who doesn’t need a bite-sized carb after the big game?!
oh man, bonnie, that makes me so happy! 🙂