If you’re looking for a butter roll recipe, you’ve come to the right place! These old-fashioned rolls are so good!
Have y’all ever heard of Butter Rolls?
From what I’ve been able to find online, these little bites of pastry heaven are not all that well known. I lucked out and came across these by mistake on allrecipes.com and I’ve been hanging on to the recipe for months, waiting for the perfect time to whip these up.
Ugh. I hate when I do that. All this time I’ve had the recipe and not made it was just a waste. I wasn’t fully living my life without eating butter rolls at least once. Now, thankfully, my life is complete. I can die happy. Preferably with one of these rolls in my face.
These rolls are less cinnamon roll and more pie crust. There is an abundance of butter involved, a good deal of sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon (you could totally up the cinnamon here). The pastry dough gets rolled up and cut to form a beautiful spiral, gently placed in a pan, and then doused in a sweet milk sauce. As the rolls bake, the milk sauce thickens up a bit into a fabulous custard.
I mean, I don’t know how any could resist these little rolls!
I can totally picture an old Southern grandma making these rolls for her family. And, since it’s my goal in life to be an old Southern grandma in the kitchen, these rolls made me happy.
I’m a huge fan of the dough. It’s very similar to a pie crust, but baking it in the sweet milk sauce softens it up a bit. All in all, this butter roll recipe is one that I plan on keeping and passing down to my kids.

Butter Rolls
Ingredients
For the rolls:
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butter, cold 2 sticks
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 3/4 cup butter, softened 1 1/2 sticks
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon more as desired
For the milk sauce:
- 2 cups milk
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter.
- When you have coarse crumbs, add the 1/2 cup of water and stir. Use your hands to press the dough together.
- Place dough in fridge for 10 minutes to make it a bit easier to work with.
- Generously sprinkle your workspace with flour. Roll the dough out into a 12x10 rectangle.
- Spread the softened butter evenly over the pastry. Sprinkle with the 1/4 cup of sugar and cinnamon.
- Roll up the dough, jelly roll style. Cut into 12 even slices.
- Place in the prepared baking dish.
- In a small saucepan, heat the milk and remaining sugar just until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
- Pour all of this mixture over the rolls.
- Bake until browned, about 30-40 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
Post updated with new video and images 4/6/17.
Jeanette Whitfield says
Whoa mama! These look amazing!!! We will definitely try these soon =)
Thank you
xoxoxo
Janet says
My wonderful Mother-in-Law made these and called them “Stickies.” We almost fought over them when she had a pan full.
Anna says
Are you supposed to share these? I don’t think they’ll make it far from the cooling rack. I only scarfed a piece of a (very) warm one, but I am ready for the rest.
Rita says
My friend Faye makes these, but didn’t have a recipe, just made them the way her mom did. At dinner, the guys take this first, to make sure they get some of it. It’s that good. My own mom even remembers her mom making these. Glad to have a “recipe”.
Karly says
@Rita,
Enjoy! 🙂
Kairie says
My cousin makes these but added cocoa powder to them.
OrahLee says
I’ve gotta tell you all how well these went over at my club pot luck. They were “Ooooooo, mmmmmmm, sho goood” with the fork still in the mouth GOOD! And before the next bite, “I’ve gotta have the recipe!” And I admit to cheating, I used a ugh, refrigerated pie dough instead of the scratch ingredients listed (I am afraid of pie-like dough for some reason).
This hit so manyyummy sensors I couldn’t believe it!!!
I am now a follower!
Shirley says
My mom always made these with extra pie dough. She would make her pie
shell and trim them, any cut off dough was saved till she was done and she would re-roll, spread the butter,sprinkle cinnamon and sugar ,roll and slice,
put them in a pan. Bake them same time as the pies. That was always a treat
for us.
Marilyn Viner says
My mom talked about butter rolls her mom made when mom was a kid. She said they were too good. Her mom knew when she said that that was all that she would eat. Mom said there were only two things that were too good…#1..a rich milk shake, #2..her mom’s Butter Rolls. I’ll have to try them. I wish I wasn’t a diabetic because I believe I could eat the whole pan of them.
Karly says
@Marilyn Viner,
I hope you enjoy them as much as your mom did!
Jo Shabazz says
Yes Crescent roll makes them. Very yummy. Try nutmeg if you don’t like cinnamon. I am an old southern great grandma.
Kim Munroe says
This probably a crazy question-but I don’t do very well with dough making-could you possibly use Crescent Rolls or premade pie dough?? They sound HEAVENLY!!!!
Judy Trammell says
Oh my goodness! I had these only one time years ago & thought they were the best thing I ever had!!! Hope they live up to what I remember!! Can’t wait to make!!! Thank you
Ashton says
I can’t stop thinking about these…. I just asked my husband for these to be my Mother’s Day breakfast!!! I. cannot. wait.
Katie C says
It’s so funny that you posted this…outside of my husband’s family, I’ve never known anyone who made these. His grandmother (a true Southern gentlewoman) made them sans recipe and since her passing he’s been tweaking and perfecting the recipe. The only difference seems to be that she never used cinnamon, but rather a healthy sprinkling of vanilla extract (like hold your thumb over the bottle opening and sprinkle).
FELICIA says
I made these for the first time 2 years ago, took it home to my family in Tyler, Texas at Thanksgiving and they were BLOWN away. My granny used to make these all the time and nobody knew how to make it. THESE ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
Oh my! I’m all over these!! Pie crust-like butter rolls?! Droooool!
Elizabeth @ Confessions of a Baking Queen says
Pie crust tasting rolls!? UM amazing.
Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts says
I have never heard of these, but I really want them in my life now! Look at all that glorious sauce!
Julie @ Julie's Eats & Treats says
Oh these look heavenly! I better not hang on to this to and not try it!
Sarah @ Miss CandiQuik says
ok these need to happen asap!
Meghan @ The Tasty Fork says
I’ve never heard of these!! But my stomach is grumbling! YUM!!