Buttery Crescent Rolls (aka Butterhorns)

Who doesn’t love buttery crescent rolls in the morning? In fact, I can pretty much eat crescent rolls (or Butterhorns, as they were once known) at any time of day. Not quite pastry, not quite bread, the rolls are something special all on their own.

While there are two rising periods, this crescent rolls recipe isn’t particularly complicated. The trick to the perfect crescent roll is not to over-flour (they get pretty bread-y when you do) and don’t skip the butter. I love these with Andy’s homemade blueberry or blackberry jam, but you can pair it with whatever your favorite jams are or go natural – we won’t tell.

Crescent Rolls Recipe Ingredients

1/4 oz (by weight) of Active Dry Yeast

¼ Cup of Warm Water

¾ Cup of Scalded Milk

½ Cup Vegetable Shortening

½ Cup of Granulated Sugar

2 Teaspoons Fine Sea Salt

4 ½ Cups Sifted All-Purpose Flour (4 Cups for Dough, 1/2 Cup for Workstation)

3 Large Beaten Eggs

2-3 Tablespoons Melted Butter (for brushing on the dough)

Important Crescent Rolls Recipe Tip

The more flour you use when kneading and shaping, the drier the dough becomes. If you add too much, your final product will taste more like bread and won’t taste as sweet.

Shortening sugar and salt for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals

Crescent Rolls Recipe Steps

Step 1 Activate the dry yeast in the warm water.

Note: I add up to a ¼ teaspoon of sugar to help with activation, but this isn’t necessary

Step 2 Pour the hot milk over the shortening, salt, and sugar. Stir together and let it cool to warm.

Step 3 Stir in 1 Cup of the Flour.

Adding sifted flour for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals

Step 4 Add activated yeast and the beaten eggs and beat the mixture thoroughly.

Adding yeast for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Adding yeast before the big flour addition makes it mix more thoroughly.

Before the flour for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Before we add the remaining flour.

Step 5 Stir in 3 cups flour. Mix until no flour streaks are left, and the dough is soft.

Note: I like to add the flour in stages so that the mixer has an easier time combining the dough.

Starting to add remaining flour to the KitchenAid for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — I slowly added the remaining 3 cups of flour so that the KitchenAid wouldn’t overheat and that everything would mix well.

final addition of flour in KitchenAid for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Last bit of flour added.

Step 6 Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 6-8 minutes.

Getting ready to knead dough for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — You may need to add flour as you knead to keep it from sticking.

Step 7 Place the kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl. Turn the dough so that the entire surface is lightly greased, and then cover it with cling film or place the bowl into a rising bag. Let it rise until the dough has doubled in size.

Note: For me, it took about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Ready to rise for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Covering the dough and waiting for it to double.

Step 8 Grease your cookie sheets (or lay down parchment paper).

Step 9 Take out the dough and place it on a floured surface. Divide the dough into thirds using a sharp knife or bread dough blade.

Weighing dough for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — I like to weigh the dough to get even sections when I cut, but you can approximate.

Step 10 Roll each section of dough so that it forms a 9-inch circle. Note: I like using the King Arthur mat to make rolling and measuring easy.

Step 11 Brush the rolled-out dough with melted butter.

Buttering the crescent roll dough with a pastry brush crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals

Step 12 Cut each 9-inch circle into wedges.

Note: Remember the Trivial Pursuit pieces? That’s what the wedges remind me of. The number of wedges is up to you. I went with 8 for two of the balls of dough and 10 on one of them.

cut wedges for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — You can choose any size wedges — the bigger they are the thicker and larger the crescent roll.

Step 13 Roll each wedge by starting with the wide end and rolling it toward the point.

Shaping for crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals

Step 14 Place the formed dough onto the prepared cookie sheet with the point under the weight of the roll. This keeps it from unrolling as it bakes. To create the crescent, shape the roll into a curve when placing it on the sheet.

Shaped and ready to rise again on 16x24 tray crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — I like using a 16×24 tray so that all the crescent rolls can go in at once.

Step 15 Brush the prepared rolls with melted butter.

A second coating of butter on crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Don’t worry if they aren’t all the same shape — mine never are, but they taste delicious.

Step 16 Cover the crescent rolls (aka Butterhorns) with cling film and let them rise again for about 45 minutes (until they are puffy). Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F during the final rise.

Unbaked crescent rolls covered in cling film for second rise crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals

Step 17 Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

Serving Suggestions

You can cool them on a wire rack, but I’m a fan of serving them while they are still warm. This recipe will make about 24-28 crescent rolls. We store them in a bread bag and reheat them in an oven. Microwaves will work, but we like how the oven slightly crisps the exterior.

Crescent rolls cooling on a baking rack crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Before serving, brush on some melted butter or put out a side of jam.

Two crescent rolls (butterhorns) in a white dish on a maroon tablecloth crescent rolls recipe baking Those Someday Goals — Yum!!

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