These are pretty much hands-down the most-delicious dinner rolls you’ll ever eat. And best of all? You can make up a batch or a double-batch ahead of time and then just pull out, thaw, and bake as many as you need for dinner. (They can be baked right away too if you prefer!) This is one of our family’s very favorite recipes and these are served at least a few times per month at our family gatherings.
Make-Ahead Butterhorns (makes 32 rolls)
2 Tablespoons dry yeast, heaping
1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
9 cups flour, divided (you can use any mixture of white or whole-wheat flour you’d like)
2 cups warm milk (110-115 degrees)
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar (we substituted sucanat)
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Beat 2 minutes or until smooth.
Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured board and knead lightly. (Or, knead in mixer until sides of bowl are clean, then knead two more minutes.)
Place in a greased bowl, turning dough once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-3 hours).
Punch dough down and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle and brush with melted butter.
Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Roll up each wedge for wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Place rolls, top down, on baking sheets and freeze. When frozen, place in freezer bags and keep frozen until needed.
To bake: Take out as many frozen rolls as you’ll need and place them on a greased baking sheet. Thaw for five hours or until doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees until lightly browned (about 8-10 minutes). Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Remove and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.
Make-Ahead Butterhorns
(makes 32 rolls)
- 2 Tablespoons dry yeast, heaping
- 1/3 cup warm water (110-115 degrees)
- 9 cups flour, divided (you can use any mixture of white or whole-wheat flour you’d like)
- 2 cups warm milk (110-115 degrees)
- 1 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup sugar (we substituted sucanat)
- 6 eggs
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3-4 Tablespoons butter, melted
In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Beat 2 minutes or until smooth.
Add enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured board and knead lightly. (Or, knead in mixer until sides of bowl are clean, then knead two more minutes.)
Place in a greased bowl, turning dough once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (1-3 hours).
Punch dough down and divide into four equal parts. Roll each part into a 12-inch circle and brush with melted butter.
Cut each circle into 8 pie-shaped wedges.
Roll up each wedge for wide edge to tip of dough and pinch to seal. Place rolls, top down, on baking sheets and freeze. When frozen, place in freezer bags and keep frozen until needed.
To bake: Take out as many frozen rolls as you’ll need and place them on a greased baking sheet. Thaw for five hours or until doubled in size. Bake at 375 degrees until lightly browned (about 8-10 minutes). Brush with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven. Remove and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.
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{ 65 comments }
oh boy do those look good! hmmmmm….. have you ever tried this with the dough setting on a bread maker? think think think….
@Denise, We always make them by hand, but if someone finds a way to make them just as good in a bread-maker, I’d be all over that!
@Denise,
Most bread machines are not big enough to handle 9 cups of flour, but, I have found that I can do pretty much any bread recipe on the dough setting if I do not exceed 5-6 cups. You can do this recipe on the dough setting if you 1/2 the recipe! Otherwise, a dough hook on the mixer works in place of kneading and then I stick the dough in a warmed oven (preheat to 200 and turn it off) and I find that it works even faster than the bread machine.
@heidi, oooh good ideas! I was also thinking about where to let it rise with 2 cats, 4 kids and a puppy in the house letting it rise in the oven is perfect! Thanks!
YUM!
This is on tap for next month. I just finished my OAMC on Saturday. Time to relax and enjoy it. I don’t know how people live without OAMC! I’m in the process of converting my sisters and blog readers.
@Kristin Call, I agree! OAMC has changed my life!
everytime i hit the printer friendly link, it closed my internet explorer. anyone else have problems with this?
@Terry, Have you tried in a different browser? I’m sorry for the issues. It works beautifully on my end, but I use Firefox.
@Terry,
You have to do the “file” then “print” instead of the “printer friendly”
site.
@Terry – Try to copy & paste into MS word. Good luck
Are these similar in taste and texture to crescent rolls? Just wondering if I could substitute these for recipes that I use that call for crescent rolls. Thanks, Crystal. My mouth is watering….
@Betsy Durand, I have a recipe fairly similar to this and yes, it can be used as a substitute for any recipe calling for crescent rolls! (Like fruit or vegetable pizza etc). According to the notes on my recipe, cutting Crystal’s recipe in half equals 4 cans of crescent rolls, but it might vary slightly. I have already frozen the dough before shaping it into rolls, and then thawed it and used it in recipes calling for crescent rolls patted into a pan. Any leftover dough could quickly be shaped into the butterhorn and baked that way!
Best wishes! These rolls are always a winner!
Beginner question: how does 2 heaping Tbsp of yeast compare to a packet? Also, if you use all whole-wheat flour, do you increase the amount of liquid? If so, by how much?
@Karen,
I think 2 heaping is about a packet. Maybe someone else can confirm that.
@Emily, 1 Tablespoon = 1 packet, a packet is about 2 1/2 tsp.
2 Tbs. would be about 2 packets, right?
@Emily, Actually, I think a packet is 2 heaping teaspoons, not tablespoons…so, 2 heaping tablespoons would be the equivalent of 3 packets (or 6 heaping teaspoons).
@Trisha,
oops… I was reading the original question as tsp not tablespoon.
These look and sound delish! You are really starting to inpsire me with this OAMC! As a busy work at home mom, I’m not sure why I’m not doing it!
i believe a packet is equal to 2 1/4 tsp, at least that is what ive seen in my googling…
and my breadmaker does have a recipe for the butterhorns in it. ill check it tonight and see how they compare.
Wow those look fabulous. I’ve been experimenting with freezing dough for a couple months because every recipe makes way more than my lil family needs at a time, but none of them have turned out very well. I am super excited to try this out- hopefully next weekend if I have time! Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful pictures, they are so helpful with your worded descriptions! Thanks for sharing this recipe, I can’t wait to make these myself!
What is OAMC? Your blog should come with a warning for dieters- I am drooling LOL
thanks!
I also do this with round rolls. Same process, just shaped round and put in the freezer. Easy! Great post, Crystal!
Thanks for the recipe! I just started making bread from scratch again (after a hiatus of 10 years) and am looking forward to trying this one.
Hi Crystal. I’m giving it a try in my bread machine. I changed the recipe slightly. It is mixing now…I’ll let you know if it works.
sorry for the ignorance, but what does OAMC mean?
Once A Month Cooking.
@ann,
Once A Month Cooking
OAMC means “Once a Month Cooking” =)
Thanks for posting this recipe! I can’t wait to try it. I am sure you have written about using sucanat before, but I must have missed it. I am just curious why you substitute sucanat for sugar. Thank you!
@Heather,
I use Sucanat as well it is sugar just in its natural state no bleaching processing none of that I believe its a healthier alternative for a sweetner
Thanks for the recipes you are sharing today. I’m not sure that I’m up for OAMC yet, but I’m definitely inspired to make a few big batches of things and store them in my freezer.
The next time you do this, could you post a picture of how you package all your food before you freeze it? I know this sounds silly, but I’m always at a loss as to what to freeze something in. The only thing I use are freezer bags.
@Susanne, Picture is coming a noon today.
Well, I made the butterhorns in the bread machine. I have nothing to compare them too, but these are wonderful! I cut the recipe in half. (My old bread machine cannot handle over 4 1/2 cups of flour!) I added the ingredients according to the bread machine. Easy!
These look so good. I haven’t found a yeast dinner roll that I like that great yet. I’ll definitely be trying these when I free up a little freezer space. Our family of 3 will probably take at least 6 or so meals to eat one batch.
I’m a little confused by the *9* cups of flour?
@Sarah, You start out with adding 4 cups and then you just add additional flour until it makes a smooth dough–usually somewhere around 9 cups of flour.
Wow these look SO GOOD! Thank you so much for sharing. I’m somewhat of a dunce in the kitchen so I think I may be in over my head trying to make these. I will admire the pictures instead
Those look delicious! Saving this recipe to use soon.
Those look so good. I just printed the recipe and can’t wait to try them! Crystal, I love the way you have set it up to print. It’s nice to be able to delete certain portions (like extra photos) to save on printer ink. Thanks for all the time and energy you (and your friend/family gang) put into this website for us. It is a blessing. =)
There aren’t enough left in our house for leftover when these get made!
Do you know what the “cost” would be? I am trying to compare them to the crescent rolls I buy to see if it would be cheaper to make my own.
I just printed this can’t wait to try it will make them later today during na time, have you made these with whole wheat flour?
Okay, newbie with breadmaking….. I have been making this in my kitchenaid with the dough hook, and waiting “patiently” for it to come clean from the sides. Any idea how long?? I think I now have about 10 cups of flour in there!!!
@Julie, I also am a beginner bread maker and although I did it by hand I also had to use more than 9 cups. Actually it was probably 11 or 12 to get it smooth and not sticky. I am waiting for it to rise now and so I cannot tell you the end result yet, but from one beginner to another I wish you luck
@Julie, I have noticed if I wait for the hook to pull it off it doesn’t happen. but if you stop the hook, and use a spoon to scrap the sides it will come right off. Otherwise I too would be adding lots of flour. The hook is more for kneading not mixing, I believe.
Do you let them freeze overnight? How long do they usually take to freeze? I would like to try these.
I just made some of your pumpkin chocolate chip muffins and the kids (who are normally picky) loved them. I doubled the recipe and shared with neighbors, froze 32 , and kept out 9 for the family to snack on and husband to take with lunch. I tried them with half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour and my can of pumpkin was only 29 oz so I added apple sauce to make up the difference. They turned out great.
Have you ever made them with whole wheat flour. I thought I remembered you saying you could substitute apple sauce for the pumpkin but I couldn’t find the post. If so, how do they taste with just applesauce and no pumpkin?
Thank you for all you do to help encourage us in homeschooling, cooking and finance.
Thanks so much for the post, Crystal. They look great. I’m curious about those of you who did it in the bread machine. Did you halve the recipe and then let the dough rise in the machine and then roll out and finish in oven? I’m so new at all this and VERY confused:)
@Emily, Hi Emily,
I halved the recipe and placed the ingredients in my bread machine in the order my machine calls for. Basically it’s wet ingredients first, but that’s my machine, so check the instructiions for yours:)
I just rolled them out and baked them for about 15 minutes. So good!
@Sonya,
Thanks so much, Sonya! I think I can handle that:) I’ll definitely have to try it out now.
Emily
Crystal, this concept is much like the brioche dough recipe found in the artisan bread in five cookbook you have on your reading list. I go ahead and bake all of mine and warm them up in foil when I bake a casserole or have the oven heated. Or the other artisan bread concept is to have the brioche dough in the fridge and make as desired (dough lasts a week). The dough is good for making cinnamon bread, crescent rolls, and chicken or pizza braids like amysfinerthings.com Just fyi to try sometime.
I made these in the bread machine today. Super easy and delicious! And they bake up HUGE!
Okay, I am really new to cooking from scratch, so I have a DUMB question. Does this use bread flour, all-purpose flour, or self-rising flour.
@Kimberly, I think this uses all-purpose. I find that usually if a recipe doesn’t specify what kind of flour to use, it’s safe to assume that it uses all-purpose.
I made these today using whole wheat flour that I had just ground in my WonderMill. Oh, my! They are DELICIOUS!!!!!
The one in the freezer won’t be there for long!
These look so good that I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait to eat them! Is it possible to make them right after rolling them up instead of freezing and thawing them? If so, at what temperature should I bake them, and for how long?
i just made these for turnovers tonight! they were awesome!
WOW!!!!!! I made a batch of these to go with dinner tonight and they are SO good!!!!!! They really aren’t hard to make and I have about 24 rolls in the freezer. My in-laws were over for dinner and just raved about these rolls. I plan on making these to keep in the freezer during my OAMC. Thanks for sharing!
@Hilary, I also want to make these for dinner and then freeze the rest. How long did you let them sit after rolling before baking? How did you bake them – time? Temperature?
@Dawn, Hi Dawn, I did 375 for 8-10 min. (really I just left them in until they “looked” done). I don’t think they sat out very long before baking them actually. They rose quite a bit in the oven while baking. I did freeze a lot of them too. I thawed some for 5 hours in the fridge, set them out for a little while on the counter, baked them the same and they did great (rose a lot in the oven also). These really were great!
I never have a problem with yeast… but my dough didn’t rise! (BOO!) Is it worth continuing with the rolling/cutting/freezing/baking, or do I need to just toss it? What a terrible waste. *sniff*
Ok, made these last night and mine were…blah. OY! I used unsalted butter, do you think this made a difference? I definitely needed more flavor- any kind of flavor- in mine. HELP!
Yes, I definitely think unsalted butter would make these a lot more bland.
I also want to try these but would like to make some right away for dinner and then freeze the rest. How long after rolling should I let them sit before baking?
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