Texas Roadhouse Rolls and Butter
Cinnamon Butter Recipe 1 (brown sugar)
Cinnamon Butter Recipe 2 (honey)
Texas Roadhouse recently opened a restaurant in our area. It’s an interesting restaurant, appealing to a younger crowd with line dancing and throwing peanut shells on the floor. While the whole meal was actually pretty good, the fresh rolls were outstanding and the whipped cinnamon butter was amazing. After a quick Internet search, I found a recipe for the rolls and three different recipes for the butter.
Starting with the butter, I decided to try 2 of the 3 recipes I found. One called for brown sugar and the other called for honey. If I would have thought about it, I would have known the restaurant didn’t use the one with the brown sugar because it would have been gritty, but I didn’t think that far ahead. The third recipe that I didn’t try called for corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk. It didn’t sound quite right, which is why I just made the other two. >> 
For both recipes, I started with room temperature butter. To one bowl of butter, I added brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon. To the other, I added honey and cinnamon. I beat both of them until they were well mixed and left them sit at room temperature until the rolls were ready.
The recipe for the rolls called for powdered milk, but I could only find powdered milk in bulk, and since I only needed 1/4 cup, I decided to omit the powdered milk and substitute milk for the water. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. I mixed the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, salt, and yeast - together and made a well in the center. Then I mixed the wet ingredients - milk and egg - together and poured that into the dry ingredients. I mixed the dough by hand, added 
the butter and more flour, and mixed the dough some more. I put it in the oven (which was turned off) with a pan of hot was to raise for an hour before punching it down. The dough was really sticky at this point, as the recipe said it would be. I scooped the dough into greased muffin tins and brushed them with butter. I had never heard of making rolls in muffin tins, but that’s what the recipe said. After rising for another 30 minutes, the dough was overflowing the muffin tins. I baked them for 15 minutes until they were brown. They didn’t rise any more while baking, which was surprising, and they also didn’t look anything like the rolls I had at the Texas Roadhouse. In fact, they looked like muffins with a flat top. Odd.
After trying the rolls, I can also say they didn’t taste like the rolls I had at the Texas Roadhouse either. While they were good, the rolls at the the restaurant were dense and very yeasty (I know that’s not a word, but I don’t know how else to 
describe them). The rolls I made were lighter in texture and didn’t have quite the right taste. They didn’t taste bad, they were actually pretty good, but definitely not what I had at the Texas Roadhouse. As for the butter, my afterthought was correct about the brown sugar - it made the butter a little gritty. The butter with the honey though was a pretty good match to the restaurant’s butter (and if you look at their website, it says they serve whipped honey cinnamon butter). Both butters were good. The brown sugar butter was a little sweeter, but I think the honey butter was better overall and a better match to the Texas Roadhouse.
Together, the rolls and butter have a similar taste to a cinnamon bun (without the stickiness) and works as both bread and dessert. I’m still looking for a better recipe for the rolls though. If anyone has a suggest, let me know!
I used your cinnamon-butter recipe with the honey, and it was delicious! Thanks for posting that. I had only been able to find the cinnamon/sugar/butter recipe previously.
As for the rolls, I came across two main recipes–the one you posted, which people said tasted nothing like the Texas Roadhouse rolls, and then another recipe that people said was pretty close.
I went ahead and tried the recipe that people said was pretty close to the Texas Roadhouse rolls, and I have to agree: they are pretty close–not exact, but closer, I think, than the other recipe that is circulating. Here’s the recipe I followed:
TEXAS ROAD HOUSE SWEET YEAST ROLLS
3 tablespoons yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups milk- scalded and cooled to lukewarm
3 tablespoons of melted butter - cooled
1/2 cup sugar
8 cups flour
2 whole eggs
2 tsp. salt
Soften yeast in warm water with a teaspoon of sugar. Add yeast, milk, sugar and enough flour to make a medium batter. Beat thoroughly. Let stand until light and foamy.
Add melted butter, eggs and salt. Beat well. Add enough flour to form soft dough. Sprinkle small amount of flour on counter and let dough rest. Meanwhile, clean and dry bowl; grease clean surface of bow. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Put in greased bowl; turn over to grease top. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in bulk. Punch down. Turn out on floured board. Divide into portions for shaping; let rest 10 minutes. Shape dough into desired forms. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown). Baste immediately with butter. Yield: 5 to 6 dozen
Thank you so much. I can’t wait to try it!
I was looking for this recipe too, they are so dense and sweet.I got pretty close using the King Arthur bread cookbook recipe for dinner rolls.I borrowed the book from my local library.I added dough conditioner one tsp per cup of flour.
I’ve tried the various recipes with moderate results as well. The one I tried first did not appear to have enough yeast - 1 1/2 tsp for 8 cups flour, but I see your recipe uses 3 tablespoons? Is that tablespoons or teaspoons?
Well, I haven´t tried any of the recipes you have given, but must tell you that I have tried though, making the cinnamon butter with the condensed milk and the corn syrup. And it tastes wonderful, so if I were you, I would give it a try and that way you would be able to see/taste the difference between all three recipes.
Our Texas Roadhouse in Des Moines, IA uses Old Home Brown & Serve Rolls and they are delicious w/ the butter! Thanks for the butter recipe! I have been going crazy trying to find it.
I made these rolls and they were good but did not rise.I did try adding half cup of honey in addition to the sugar and it was great. am i not adding my ingredients right. Please help