Spiced or Plain Butterhorns
Spiced butterhorn rolls made with yeasted dough cut into wedges, spread with egg white and sugar, sprinkled with nuts, and rolled into crescents with a butter frosting.
YIELD
10 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
25 minREADY
40 minButterhorns are the homemade answer to crescent rolls, but richer and sweeter. The dough gets mixed like pie crust with margarine cut into the flour, then brought together with egg yolks and a yeast mixture. It’s a hybrid technique that gives you flaky layers from the pastry method and a soft chew from the yeast.
Each portion of dough rolls into a circle, gets cut into wedges, and each wedge gets painted with beaten egg white and sugar, then sprinkled with chopped pecans or walnuts before rolling from the wide end to the point. The egg white-sugar coating bakes into a sweet, slightly crackly shell around the nutty crescent.
Cinnamon and nutmeg in the spiced version give these a warm, holiday-ready flavor. For a plainer butterhorn, just leave them out.
The butter frosting on top is optional but adds a vanilla-sweet finish that makes these feel like a proper pastry rather than a dinner roll.
Kitchen Tips
- Mix the dough like pie crust, cutting the margarine into the flour until it resembles coarse crumbs. Don’t overwork it
- Roll the circles thin and even so each butterhorn bakes at the same rate
- Beat the egg white just enough to loosen it, not to stiff peaks. You want it to spread like a glaze
- These are best served the day they’re made. The crackly sugar coating softens overnight
Variations
- Skip the frosting and dust with powdered sugar for a lighter finish
- Add a tablespoon of orange zest to the dough for a citrus twist
- Use brown sugar instead of white for a deeper, more caramel-like coating
Ingredients
Directions
Butter Frosting: Combine water, yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar. Let stand in warm place until yeast dissolves and mixture foams.
Mix together nutmeg, flour, cinnamon, salt and margarine as you would for pie crust.
Add egg yolks and yeast mixture.
Blend well and form into a ball.
Divide dough into 4 parts.
Roll each into an 8- or 10-inch circle onto wax paper.
Cut into eight to ten wedges. Spread each piece with mixture of egg white and ½ cup sugar and sprinkle with nuts. Roll from wide end to pointed end to form a horn.
Bake on greased cookie sheet at 375℉ (190℃) for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly browned.
To make frosting, combine ingredients and beat until fluffy.
Frost when cooled.
If left unfrosted, can dust with powdered sugar or leave plain.
For non-spiced cookie, omit cinnamon and nutmeg.
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