How to Make Homemade Crescent Rolls (From-Scratch, Vintage Recipe!)

Have you ever had homemade crescents roll fresh from the oven? How can I explain the aroma…the texture…the warmth of the crescent roll…it’s just simply divine!

This recipe for homemade crescent rolls was given to my mother by her grandma. We called her Grandma Murphy. In her recipe note, she writes, “Sure does make the your kitchen smell good.”

Grandma Murphy was right!

Homemade crescent rolls from scratch are not hard at all. You don’t even have to knead the dough.

I Love Handwritten Vintage Recipes

Don’t you love deciphering vintage recipes? It’s almost like you can hear the person talking through their handwriting. They wrote how they talked, and I love it.

On the back of this recipe, Grandma noted to my Mama that “This recipe is from your great great Aunt Kate Murphy.” That makes this recipe quite vintage, isn’t that in style these days?

She also wrote that “it made so many I shared with your great grandparents.” What a special note. (Really though, they make around 24 if you stick with cutting 12 triangles out of three sections of dough.)

What You Need for Homemade Crescent Rolls

No special equipment is needed at all!

Just a big bowl to mix your ingredients and a baking sheet. (or two)

The ingredients are pretty straight forward. Here’s what you’ll need:

-1 package active dry yeast. This is equal to 2 1/4 tsp yeast if you don’t buy the packets.

-1 1/4 cup warm water. This is for the yeast. Don’t make it too hot! Lukewarm is fine.

1 1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 cup sugar. You can also use honey if you are watching your sugar intake.

-1/2 cup melted oil. Grandma wrote Crisco in her recipe. I used refined coconut oil.

-4 eggs, beaten

-4 or 5 cups of flour. I ended up using about 4 1/2 cups. You’ll just have to judge how much you need as you mix it together.

-Melted butter for brushing over the rolls.

How to Make the Crescent Rolls

First, you will dissolve the yeast in a bowl with the warm water. Add the sugar and stir around. Then add the salt, oil, and eggs.

Add in the flour one cup at a time. Mix it all together well.

Let it rise until double. At this point, you can change into another bowl and place in the fridge until time to bake if you desire. (But I skipped that part of the instructions, and moved onto the next step because I needed to have the rolls as soon as possible. Having the dough chilled does make it easier to handle though, so that part is up to you.)

Divide the dough into three equal sections.

Roll it out 1/2 inch thick, in a circle like a pie crust.

Brush with melted butter.

Cut into 12 pieces like a pie.

Roll the pieces up, beginning at the wider larger end.

Place them on a cookie sheet.

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Brush rolls with more butter.

Let them rise once more, until more than double in size.

Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 10 minutes or so. Watch them carefully around the ten minute mark because they will burn quickly!

Take them out and enjoy them…they are scrumptious.

Grandma Murphy’s Recipes

I am so honored that my Mamaw Janice entrusted me with some of her mother’s recipes. She gifted me a book that had handwritten and cut-out recipes alike. It is like looking at a real life Pinterest board!

My mamaw was born in Arkansas. She met and married my Papaw when she was 18 and then they moved back to his home in East Tennessee. They have been married for 59 years and she has taught me the bulk of how to be a good homemaker.

Her mother, Catherine Murphy, is the woman behind the crescent roll recipe.

Since the Murphy’s lived in Arkansas, I only met my great-grandma three or four times. I did not know her well. But I hope as with all my ancestors, I honor them!

I hope you like this recipe and please let me know if you’ve tried it! Grandma Murphy would of liked that. 🙂

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