Butterhorn Recipe with Cottage Cheese

Don't you love it when you find a sinfully good recipe that is quick and easy to make with few ingredients? So when I say a few ingredients, this Butterhorn Recipe with Cottage Cheese Rolls only takes three; butter, flour, and cottage cheese.

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These easy homemade butterhorn rolls are similar to a crescent roll and are a favorite treat in our house. The dough is super easy to make, and you can even make the dough ahead, chill it, and roll the butterhorns later.  I have even frozen the dough, and the rolls come out just as delicious.

Of course, there is the option to add more ingredients if you want to sweeten things up a bit, but the basic three will get you deliciously rich, flaky, and buttery rolls; add a simple almond-flavored powdered sugar icing to dress them up. Think of these rolls as little puff pastries in the shape of crescent rolls.

Jump to:

• Why you will love these rolls
• Some delicious variations
• Roll Ingredients
• Baking equipment for this recipe
• How to make Butterhorn Rolls: Step by step
• Make cinnamon butterhorns too!
• Some delicious variations
• Butterhorn FAQ's
• You will love these bites sized desserts and appetizers
• More rolls and biscuits!
• Recipe

Why you will love these rolls

• You need just a few ingredients.
• You need a big mixing bowl and a wooden spoon to make the dough.
• These bite-sized rolls bake up golden, soft, and buttery; they almost melt in your mouth.
• When you add the sweet icing glaze, you have a delicious sweet roll.
• These rolls make tasty snacks, desserts, or appetizers.
• You can customize the rolls with sweet or savory fillings. Look below to see the Cinnamon Butterhorns.

Some delicious variations

• Cinnamon Crescent Rolls - add a sprinkling of cinnamon to the dough before rolling
• Spread the dough with your favorite jam
• Sprinkle with cheese
• Make these rolls with savory herbs like thyme, rosemary or chives
• Go south of the border and sprinkle with ground cumin and diced pepper

There is one ingredient in these tasty crescents that makes these rolls amazing. This recipe calls for Cottage Cheese! Yes, the humble white cheese curds add moistness to the rolls and makes them tender.

Roll Ingredients

• Butter - salted or unsalted butter works for this recipe
• Flour - I use all-purpose flour
• Cottage Cheese - use small curd cottage cheese

There is one ingredient in these butterhorns that makes these rolls amazing. This recipe calls for Cottage Cheese! Yes, the humble white cheese curds add moistness to the rolls and make them deliciously tender.

This icing is optional, but I find it hard not to use it.

Remember I said this recipe has three ingredients? I decided a sweet icing drizzle on the top would taste great on the rolls, so I added three more ingredients for an almond-flavored icing drizzle.

• Powdered Sugar
• Milk
• Almond extract -you can substitute vanilla extract

Baking equipment for this recipe

These items will make rolling the dough and cutting so much easier

• I always use a cloth rolling mat when working with pastry dough and pie dough.
• Even though this is a soft dough, you need a good rolling pin to get the job done.
• A pizza cutter makes it fast and easy to cut the pastry into wedges

How to make Butterhorn Rolls: Step by step

Recipe notes: While I have made the butterhorns right away, I do suggest you refrigerate the dough, especially on a hot day.

I suggest a rimmed baking sheet because some butter melts out of the rolls while they are baking, and a rimmed baking pan will catch the butter.

Step 1. Make sure your butter is cold, and cut it into very small cubes. Optionally, you can grate the butter. You may need to rechill the butter so it is nice and cold.

Step 2. Mix the cottage cheese, cold butter, and flour in a large mixing bowl until roughly combined. A heavy spoon or a wooden spoon works well for this.

Step 3. Turn the dough out on a floured pastry cloth and form it into a large disk.

You are going to make two disks, but first, you need to gather the dough into one large one, then cut it in half and make two smaller ones.

Look how nicely this dough comes together. It's nice and moist, and you can see the butter and cottage cheese pieces.

Step 4. Wrap both of the dough rounds in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. You can also refrigerate the dough overnight.

Step 5. Roll the dough into a large circle, then with a pizza cutter, cut into 16 triangles.

Pastry tip - I cut the wedges so the pastries are bit-sized, but you can also make bigger wedges for larger rolls.

Step 6. Roll each triangle up, starting at the wide end and place the rolls on a rimmed baking sheet with the rolled end down; this will keep the crescent shape intact while baking. 

Step 7. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30 minutes until nice and golden brown, then remove from the oven to cool on a wire rack.

Baking tip ~Sometimes, the butter will bake out of the dough while baking, and if that happens, remove the baking pan and drain off the butter. Just tip the pan so the butter runs down the corner, and use a spoon to remove it.

How to make the optional glaze

Step 8. Make the icing by combining the powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract, and stir until the icing is nice and smooth.

Step 9. Finish the crescents by drizzling the icing over the rolls.

 It is amazing what a few simple ingredients can turn into. Bake up a batch of these delectable homemade rolls for breakfast, brunch, or maybe a potluck.  I guarantee everyone will love them.

These rolls are best eaten the day they are made, but if you find yourself with leftovers since this recipe makes 32 rolls, they will still taste good over the next couple of days, but the texture will not be the same.

Make cinnamon butterhorns too!

Some delicious variations

• Cinnamon Crescent Rolls- add a sprinkling of cinnamon to the dough before rolling
• Spread the dough with your favorite jam
• Sprinkle with cheese
• Make these rolls savory by adding herbs like thyme, rosemary or chives

• Go south of the border and sprinkle with ground cumin and diced pepper

Butterhorn FAQ's

You will love these bites sized desserts and appetizers

• Pecan Tart are just like mini pecans pies and are very easy to make.
• Mini Swiss Cheese Quiches are bite-size quiches filled with savory egg custard.
• Jelly Roll Pie Tarts are made with pie dough and your favorite jam or jelly; these are a favorite.
• Bite-Sized Chicken Taco Cups have all the flavors of a taco but in bite-size cups.
• Apricot Parmesan Puff Pastry Roll-Ups uses frozen puff pastry for easy prep.
• Savory Homemade Cheese Popcorn with rosemary is the perfect movie night treat.

More rolls and biscuits!

Recipe

First published: Sept. 27, 2014, Last updated: May 31, 2023, for better readability.

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About j

From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending.  Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.