Classic Butterhorn Dinner Rolls are lightly sweet, rich and airy homemade crescent rolls. The perfect addition to your next holiday meal!
This recipe is a fun change from Traditional Dinner Rolls. The buttery horn-shaped rolls not only look different but they have a soft and flaky texture, just like canned crescent rolls. They take a bit of extra work, making them a perfect Homemade Bread to serve during the holidays and other special meals.
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Sabrina’s Classic Butterhorn Dinner Rolls Recipe
Butterhorn Rolls are fun croissant-shaped rolls, similar to crescent rolls you get in a can, filled with buttery flavor! They get this extra buttery flavor in a few ways. The first is from the cold butter mixed into the dough. It melts as the rolls cook for excellent fluffy and soft rolls. There’s also melted butter wrapped inside of the dough, and I even like to finish them off by brushing a little extra butter on top before serving. Everyone is sure to love this melt-in-your-mouth buttery dinner roll recipe.
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Ingredients
- Butter: It’s essential to use frozen butter in this recipe. As the butter melts during baking, it helps the soft bread dough rise for airier rolls. However, only 1 cup of the butter needs to be frozen. Melt the additional butter and brush it over the dough to give a more comforting flavor.
- Flour: I’d recommend using 4 cups of bread flour for this recipe. If you don’t have bread flour, then white all-purpose flour also works. However, bread flour produces more gluten, which will create more buttery rich, fluffy, Horn-Shaped Rolls.
- Yeast Mixture: I used active dry yeast and warm water in this recipe, so you will need to make sure the water is warm but not hot so it activates correctly. It should be foamy and lightly yeasty smelling after 5-10 minutes. If you want to use instant yeast, add with the flour mixture and then add the wet ingredients at the end.
- Sugar: Granulated sugar is another important part of the classic ingredients because it makes the Butterhorn Rolls sweeter than other classic dinner roll recipes.
- Egg and Milk: The added egg and milk make these rolls extra rich and add a lot of softness so they just melt in your mouth! It’s similar to a brioche flavor, but in lighter, flakier crescent roll.
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How to Make Butterhorn Dinner Rolls
Time needed: 9 hours and 5 minutes.
Important Note: Keep in mind that you’ll need to refrigerate the dough overnight.
- Prep Time
Before starting the recipe, make sure that you have frozen butter, warm milk, and warm water ready to use in the recipe.
- Prep Butter and Dry Ingredients
Cut the frozen butter into finely diced pieces. Then add flour, granulated sugar, kosher salt, and diced butter to the food processor and pulse. The clumps of butter should blend with the dry ingredients into coarse crumbs.
- Activate Yeast
Add yeast and warm water to a large mixing bowl, and stir the yeast mixture together. Allow the yeast mixture to rest for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
- Make Rough Dough
Add the flour mixture into the same mixing bowl, and mix it with the wet ingredients.
- Combine for Wet Dough
Add the warm milk and egg to the dough and stir well.
- Chill and Proof Dough
Cover the bowl of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight to keep the butter mixture cool. The dough should be airy and risen.
- Divide Risen Dough
Prepare a clean, well-floured surface. Transfer dough ball to it. Cut the ball of dough into 4 even pieces.
- Shape the Dough
Use a floured rolling pin to roll out each dough section into a 10-inch circle of dough with ¼ inch thickness.
- Butter and Roll
Melt the remaining ½ cup of butter. Use a pizza cutter to cut each circle into 8 wedges. Brush the top of each dough wedge with the melted butter, and roll each wedge from the thick part to make a croissant shape.
- Second Proof
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Working one batch, or 8 rolls, at a time:
Place one batch of rolls onto the baking sheet with 2 inches between them. Curve them into a crescent moon shape by pulling down and together on the edges. Cover the soft dough with plastic wrap again and let it rise for 45 minutes.
Note: Keep the other rolls on a separate parchment lined surface, then just pop another batch on the baking sheet after the previous one is done baking. - Baking
Preheat your oven temperature to 375 degrees. Place one sheet in the preheated oven to bake rolls for 10-12 minutes. Take the golden rolls from the oven, and brush with melted butter before serving. Repeat with the remaining unbaked rolls and serve hot.
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Can These Be Made Ahead?
Yes, these are the perfect make-in-advance rolls. The dough has to be refrigerated overnight anyways so you can make the dough a day ahead of serving. You’ll just have to shape, rise, and then bake just before serving! You could also shape them and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, then cover it tightly with plastic wrap. When you are ready to bake them, let them come to room temperature (about 10-15 minutes) before you start the 45-minute rising time.
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Nutritional Facts
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How to Serve Butterhorn Rolls
These soft Butterhorn Dinner Rolls are a great addition to your meal at holiday dinners. But, you don’t have to save them for just a few times a year. Try serving this buttery roll recipe with your favorite comfort food dinner. They taste absolutely amazing with a hearty bowl of stew like American Beef Stew or Irish Lamb Stew to dip them in. See the recipe below in Variations for a mouthwatering maple glaze filling/topping!
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How to Store
- Store: Let the rolls cool for a few minutes before digging into them. You can enjoy Classic Butterhorn Dinner Rolls warm or cold. If you have leftover rolls, seal them in a ziplock bag or another airtight container to keep them fresh. They’ll keep best at room temperature for 3-5 days.
- Reheat: If you want to reheat them, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Then wrap the rolls in tin foil and heat them in the warm oven for 5-10 minutes.
- Freeze: This recipe makes a few batches of Butterhorn-style rolls, so it’s perfect to set some aside to freeze. After baking bread rolls, let them cool completely before putting them in an airtight container to freeze. Then you can reheat them for a fresh, homemade recipe on a busy weeknight. If you freeze the dinner rolls, they’ll stay good for up to 3 months.
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Frequent Questions
Refrigerating the dough overnight lets the fermentation process happen slowly giving the rolls better flavor. Plus, it will be easier to handle and shape the dough when ready to bake.
You can absolutely try out a variety of toppings to change up the flavor of Classic Butterhorn Dinner Rolls. If you want more savory rolls, brush melted butter on top while they’re warm then you can sprinkle on sea salt, rosemary, parsley, or other fresh herbs. For a sweeter option, serve them with spread cream cheese and fruit jam on top.
Absolutely! This is a great way to pre-prep the rolls so a future meal can be ready quickly. Prepare the dough according to the instructions and shape the rolls right away. Then, put them into the freezer for an hour instead of overnight. Finally, store them in a freezer bag. To use, thaw overnight in the fridge, and let them rise on the counter before baking according to the instructions!
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Recipe Card
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter , frozen (divided)
- 4 cups flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 packet active dry yeast , (¼ ounce)
- 1/4 cup warm water , 110-115 degrees – warm to the touch
- 3/4 cup warm whole milk , 110-115 degrees – warm to the touch
- 1 large egg , room temperature
Instructions
- Cut up 1 cup of the frozen butter into a fine dice.
- Add flour, sugar, salt and butter to a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- In a large bowl add the yeast and water, stir to combine. Allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes to activate.
- Add in the flour mixture and stir.
- Add in milk and egg and stir well to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Remove the dough from the bowl onto a large floured surface.
- Cut the dough into four pieces.
- Roll out each piece with a floured rolling pin into a 10 inch circle about ¼ inch thick.
- Melt the remaining ½ cup butter.
- Using a pizza cutter, cut into 8 wedges, brush with butter and roll each wedge into a croissant shape, starting from the widest side in.
- Place each piece onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper two inches apart.
- Form the rolls into a slightly curved inward shape, like a crescent moon by pulling down and together the edges just a bit.
- Cover gently with plastic wrap and let rise for 45 minutes.
- Repeat two more times with the remaining dough (doing each batch one at a time will give each batch time to bake while the next batch is rising).
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Brush with additional melted butter just before serving (optional).
Nutrition
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Variations
- Wheat Rolls: If you want to make these rolls with wheat flour, I’d recommend using 2 cups wheat flour and 2 cups white flour. Using some white bread flour will stop them from becoming too dense.
- Mix-ins: You can add lots of mix-ins like chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, raisins, or dried cranberries to make sweeter rolls. You can also mix in chopped walnuts, pecans, or almonds for a crunchy texture.
- Maple Walnut Butterhorn Rolls: Although this Butterhorns recipe is usually made for dinner rolls, you can use the same dough to make a breakfast recipe. You can make a maple glaze filling by mixing 3 large egg whites, ½ teaspoon cream of tartar, ½ real maple syrup, and 1 ½ cups ground walnuts. Combine the maple mixture, and spread it over the butterhorn dough wedge before rolling it into a crescent roll. Then the maple mixture can bake with the rolls. You can also top them off with maple syrup glaze before serving.
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