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Fluffy and light Texas Roadhouse style bread rolls paired with a sweet, whipped cinnamon honey butter are so tender they will melt in your mouth! Pair them with your favorite meal, or make a batch just for snacking, or dessert!
One of the best parts of going out to eat is always the appetizers! Especially when it comes to Texas Roadhouse. Their rolls and cinnamon honey butter are always a highlight! Luckily they’re easy to copy at home! These rolls are lightly sweetened, fluffy and buttery. And the cinnamon honey butter?! I recommend making a double batch and smearing it on all the things.
Ingredients Needed:
- Active Dry Yeast: can be subbed for instant yeast if needed. Instant yeast doesn’t need to be activated and can be added directly into the other ingredients to form the dough.
- Warm Water: the temperature should be between 90-100℉ to help the yeast activate.
- Sugar: this helps feed the yeast to activate it.
- Milk
- Butter
- Honey: adds a light sweetness to the rolls.
- Salt
- Egg: adds a richness to the rolls.
- Flour: this recipe is written using all purpose flour. I haven’t attempting using other flours so can’t comment on the results.
How to make (step-by-step):
- Step 1: Activate the Yeast, dissolve sugar with warm water and pour over the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. After sitting for 5 minutes, there will be a foam on the top of the liquid. IF there’s no foam, the yeast is most likely dead and you will need to start over.
- Step 2: Scald the Milk, heat the milk in a saucepan just until the edges start to bubble. Remove from the heat and add in the butter and honey. Then let this cool until it’s down to 100℉. Adding it in too hot to the yeast can kill the yeast. Then mix dough: add the milk mixture to the yeast, then add the remaining ingredients. Knead the dough using a dough hook attachment. The dough should form into a ball.
- Step 3 &4: Kneading, then continue to knead with your hands until dough is soft and supple, no longer sticky.
- Step 5 : Let Rise, Pour a small amount of oil into a bowl, just enough to coat the ball of dough. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let rise until dough is twice the size.
- Step 6 & 7: Roll dough, after the dough has risen to double the size, punch the dough down, fold over twice, then place on a clean, lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough: cut into squares and place on a prepared baking sheet.
- Step 8: Second Rise: Cover the baking sheet with another clean towel and let the rolls rise a second time for an additional 45 minutes. Bake the rolls until nice and golden on the top.
FAQ’s:
The whey protein in milk can weaken gluten and prevent the dough from rising properly, scalding the milk deactivates the protein so this doesn’t happen. Giving a nice rise and a fluffy roll.
Yes, it’s recommended to use 25% less yeast when using instant instead of active. Which is equal to 1 3/4 teaspoon. There is no need to let the yeast proof with the sugar and water, simply add the yeast to the ingredients skipping step #2.
Yes. Place room temperature rolls on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for a couple hours until frozen, then add to a large freezer bag for storage. Can be frozen for 4-5 months. To thaw remove to room temperature and let thaw for a couple hours, reheat in the oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until warmed through.
How to make Cinnamon Honey Butter:
The butter is possibly the best part of this recipe. I highly recommend making a double batch.
- Step 1: Add room temperature butter to a bowl and add the honey, cinnamon, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt.
- Step 2: Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to mix the butter, this ensures that the butter is throughly combined and gives a whipped texture.
Expert Tips:
- Rise Time: to help your dough rise, turn the oven on to 150 degree F, then turn it off. Place your covered bowl of dough in the oven with the door cracked, after 30 minutes, close the door and allow it to continue rising.
- Temperature: the temperature of the liquid needed for the yeast to rise is important. I suggest using an instant read thermometer to ensure you get the best results.
- Yeast: be sure that you are using good yeast, jars of yeast should be stored in the refrigerator and be unexpired. Expired yeast will more than likely not rise. If no bubbles appear during the proofing step, the yeast should be thrown away.
More Breads and Rolls to enjoy:
Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
Ingredients
- 1 tsp sugar
- 2¼ tsp active dry yeast
- ¼ cup warm water
- 1 cup milk
- 6 tbsp butter unsalted
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large egg beaten
- 4¼ cup all purpose flour
Cinnamon Honey Butter
- ½ cup butter softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅛ tsp salt
Instructions
- Scald the milk: heat milk in a small saucepan until small bubbles form on the edge of the pot. Remove from heat, add butter and honey to let it melt, and allow to cool to 90-100 degrees.
- Stir sugar into warm water (90-100℉) until it dissolves, pour into a large mixing bowl of stand mixer. Add in the yeast and stir together. Let sit for 5 minutes until foamy.
- After the milk mixture has cooled to at least 100℉, add to the yeast mixture, stir to combine. Add in the egg, stir to combine.
- Add in 2 cups of flour. Use dough hook attachment of stand mixer to mix dough together.
- Add an additional 2 cups of flour and the salt.
- Knead with dough hook on a stand mixer (or knead by hand) until dough starts to come together, gradually add in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour as needed until dough forms into a ball. Knead for about 6-8 mins on stand mixer with dough hook. Sprinkle a light dusting of flour on a clean work surface and knead with hands until dough is smooth, should not be sticky.
- Drizzle a small amount of oil (1/2 tsp) into a large mixing bowl, just enough for a light coating. Then place the dough ball into the bowl, give it a spin to coat the dough ball with a small amount of oil.
- Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm place to let rise for an hour. (My favorite method is to bring a cup of water to a boil inside my microwave, remove the cup of water and place the bowl of dough inside. OR you can preheat oven to 150 degrees, turn it off and place the dough inside with the door closed.)
- After dough has risen and doubled in size, punch down the dough, then place on a clean work surface lightly dusted with flour. Fold the dough over twice, then roll out the dough into a rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut the dough into 2 1/2 inch squares. Place on a large baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. (Typically can fit all of the rolls onto a half sheet baking sheet leaving about 1/4 an inch in between the rolls)
- Cover with towel and let rise again for another 45 mins. Preheat oven to 375℉.
- Bake at 375℉ for 17-19 minutes until lightly golden brown on the top.
- Brush tops with melted butter.
Cinnamon Honey Butter
- In a bowl combine the room temperature butter, powdered sugar, honey, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Mix with a hand mixer (this helps whip the butter and completely blend it together)
Equipment
Notes
- Active Dry Yeast: can be subbed for instant yeast if needed. Instant yeast doesn’t need to be activated and can be added directly into the other ingredients to form the dough, it’s recommended to use 25% less yeast when using instant instead of active. Which is equal to 1 3/4 teaspoon. There is no need to let the yeast proof with the sugar and water, simply add the yeast to the ingredients skipping step #2.
- Warm Water: the temperature should be between 90-100℉ to help the yeast activate.
- Flour: this recipe is written using all purpose flour.
- Freezing & Reheating: Place room temperature rolls on a baking sheet and place in the freezer for a couple hours until frozen, then add to a large freezer bag for storage. Can be frozen for 4-5 months. To thaw remove to room temperature and let thaw for a couple hours, reheat in the oven at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes until warmed through.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe first published November 20, 2020. Updated November 15, 2021 with new information. Recipe is unchanged.
Photography by KJandcompany.co
These rolls were so fun to make! Perfectly fluffy and were gone before we knew it!