Crescent roll cinnamon rolls are buttery and flaky cinnamon rolls made with crescent roll dough, filled with a cinnamon brown sugar filling. These deliciously gooey cinnamon crescent rolls are topped with a quick and easy cream cheese glaze after baking. Grab your favorite store bought crescent rolls and make a decadent semi homemade breakfast treat everyone is sure to love.
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Why Should You Make This Recipe
When I think of a decadent breakfast recipe, I think of cinnamon rolls. I have several cinnamon roll inspired treats on the blog. My current favorite ones from the blog are my Cinnamon Rolls with Heavy Cream, Cinnamon Rolls and Apple Pie Filling and Cinnamon Roll Waffles. With an easy to make, semi homemade and ooey-gooey cinnamon rolls in mind, I created these cinnamon crescent rolls.
- Simple pantry ingredients: You only need a handful of basic ingredients to make a batch of quick, simple and simply decadent cream cheese frosted crescent cinnamon rolls.
- Fast and easy: Grab your favorite refrigerated crescent rolls, butter, brown sugar, butter, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon to make the easiest cinnamon roll crescent rolls.
Ingredients
Before I show you how to make this recipe for cinnamon roll crescent rolls, make sure you have these simple ingredients ready to go.
Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
Gather your preferred crescent roll dough, butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and ground cinnamon.
Cream Cheese Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls
Gather cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla extract.
Substitutions
Making these cinnamon rolls made with crescent rolls are super simple and you probably already have everything you need. Here are my recommended substitutions to make this recipe if you need them.
- Crescent Roll Dough: Feel free to use your preferred crescent roll dough.
- Butter: This is an essential ingredient in the cinnamon and brown sugar filling. Use salted butter or plant based butter if you prefer.
- Brown Sugar: Maple sugar or regular granulated sugar will also work well. Brown sugar is recommend because it brings a nice caramel note in the background of the cinnamon roll filling.
- Ground Cinnamon: Cinnamon is another essential ingredient to make a classic cinnamon roll. If you would like to play around with spices, I think apple pie, pumpkin or chai spice blends would taste amazing as well.
- Vanilla Extract: This is purely for flavor and to enhance the flavors of the cinnamon sugar cinnamon roll filling and crescent roll dough.
Variations
- Cinnamon Crescent Rolls: Rather than pressing the crescent roll dough together, pull apart the crescent roll dough into the pre cut triangles. Spread the filling into each of the triangle crescent roll dough. Roll the triangles from the wider side of the triangle up to the tip of the triangle, forming the classic crescent roll shape. Bake on a lined baking sheet according to the package directions. Drizzle vanilla or maple glaze on the cinnamon crescent rolls once they’ve cooled.
- Maple Glaze: Mix 1- 1 ½ cups (120 - 180 g) powdered sugar with 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 - 45 ml) and 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 - 45 ml) milk or heavy cream.
- Vanilla Glaze: Mix 1- 1 ½ cups (120 - 180 g) powdered sugar with 1 teaspoons vanilla extract and 2 - 3 tablespoons (30 - 45 ml) milk or heavy cream.
- Cinnamon Roll Muffins: To make these as cinnamon roll muffins, lightly grease a regular 12 ct. muffin pan and place one cinnamon roll in each of the muffin wells. Bake the cinnamon roll crescent rolls at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes or until baked through.
How To Make
Learn how to make crescent roll cinnamon rolls in a few easy steps.
Prepare the Cinnamon Crescent Rolls
- Prepare the cinnamon roll filling by mixing the room temperature butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined. Set the bowl aside at room temperature to make the cinnamon rolls.
- Unwrap the crescent roll dough from the packaging and place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. I like to use a large sheet of parchment paper. Carefully unroll the dough, slightly overlap all 8 dough triangles at each of the perforated sections and press down to form one crescent roll dough sheet. Use your fingers or a rolling pin to roll out the dough slightly, ensuring there are no holes in the dough.
- Drop small tablespoon sized dollop of the cinnamon roll filling onto the dough sheet. Use about half of the filling. Using the back of a spoon, small spatula or a frosting knife, spread the cinnamon roll filling across the dough sheet. Starting at the bottom roll the crescent roll dough into a log shape, making sure to keep the filling inside of the dough.
- Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log into your desired number of cinnamon rolls. One can of crescent roll dough makes 6 cinnamon rolls. Repeat the same steps for the remaining crescent roll dough. Once all the cinnamon rolls have been made, place the rolls into a baking dish. Allow the cinnamon roll crescent rolls to “rest” at room temperature for 20 minutes while the oven preheats.
Bake and Serve the Cinnamon Rolls
5. Bake the cinnamon rolls at 350 F (177 C) for about 25 - 30 minutes or the tops of the crescent cinnamon rolls are golden brown and the centers are set. Cool the cinnamon rolls for about 10 minutes before topping with the homemade cream cheese frosting or vanilla glaze. Make the cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls by creaming the room temperature butter with the room temperature cream cheese until smooth. Once smooth and well combined, mix in the vanilla extract and powdered sugar until smooth and well combined. Spread onto warm crescent cinnamon rolls.
How To Store, Reheat and Make Ahead
- Store: Allow the crescent cinnamon rolls to fully cool, then store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat: Reheat the rolls by transferring your preferred number of cinnamon rolls to a microwave safe plate and heating in 30 second increments until heated through.
- Make Ahead: The filling and cream cheese icing can be made up to 5 days ahead of time. Simply prepare the filling or the icing and store in an air tight container in the fridge. Bring both to room temperature before using in the recipe. The cinnamon rolls can be assembled and stored covered with plastic wrap in the fridge overnight. Allow the rolls to sit out at room temperature for 30 minutes while the oven preheats.
M’s Expert Tips
- Use crescent roll dough you like. The taste of the crescent roll dough comes through in the final taste and texture of the crescent cinnamon rolls.
- Press the perforated seams together. To ensure the crescent dough stays together and creates a lovely cinnamon roll shape, make sure to slightly overlap the seams of the crescent roll triangles to create one crescent roll dough sheet.
- Let the cinnamon rolls rest. Just like with old fashioned cinnamon rolls, allowing these cinnamon crescent rolls to rest allows the dough to “rise,” resulting in a fluffier texture.
- Use a sharp serrated knife. Traditional cinnamon roll recipes sometimes call for cutting the cinnamon rolls with unflavored floss. This recipe for crescent roll cinnamon rolls needs to be cut into cinnamon rolls using a serrated knife.
- Use heavy cream. For extra gooey cinnamon rolls, drizzle ¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream in between the cinnamon rolls prior to baking. This makes all the cinnamon rolls taste as gooey as the center piece.
- Make the cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls. The frosting takes about 5 minutes to mix together really makes the cinnamon rolls look and taste homemade and from scratch.
FAQs
A good rule to keep in mind is about 1 inch of space per cinnamon roll. For this recipe I would suggest a 9 - 10 inch pan. For more cinnamon rolls, use at 9 x 13 pan. To make these as cinnamon roll muffins, lightly grease a regular 12 ct. muffin pan and place one cinnamon roll in each of the muffin wells. Bake the cinnamon roll crescent rolls at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes or until baked through.
Most likely this is from underbaking the cinnamon rolls. Make sure to give the cinnamon rolls a little space to spread and rise. Continue baking until the center is baked though.
They are both the same type of dough. Crescent roll dough is easier to find at the store than the dough sheet.
An easy way is to make savory or sweet rolls, like cinnamon rolls. Prepare the filling you like, spread the filling onto the dough, roll the dough up and bake.
Other Crescent Roll Recipes to Try
If you try this Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls recipe please rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Doing so helps other readers decide if this is a great recipe to bake. Don’t forget to tag me on Instagram using @olivesnthyme so I can see what you’re baking! Happy Baking! - M
Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls Recipe
Equipment
- 1 10 inch baking pan or 9 x 13 baking dish
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 serrated knife
- 1 stand mixer with paddle attachment or electric hand mixer with beaters (to make the cream cheese frosting)
Ingredients
Crescent Roll Cinnamon Rolls
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- 3 - 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 8 oz. cans crescent roll dough
Cream Cheese Frosting for Cinnamon Rolls
- 4 oz. (113 g) cream cheese, room temperature
- 4 tablespoons (58 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 - 1½ cups (120 - 180 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 - 2 teaspoons heavy cream
Instructions
- Prepare the cinnamon roll filling by mixing the room temperature butter with the brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla extract until smooth and well combined. Set the bowl aside at room temperature to make the cinnamon rolls.½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar, 3 - 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon , 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Unwrap the crescent roll dough from the packaging and place the dough onto a lightly floured surface. I like to use a large sheet of parchment paper. Carefully unroll the dough, slightly overlap all 8 dough triangles at each of the perforated sections and press down to form one crescent roll dough sheet. Use your fingers or a rolling pin to press or roll out the dough slightly, ensuring there are no holes in the dough.2 8 oz. cans crescent roll dough
- Drop small tablespoon sized dollop of the cinnamon roll filling onto the dough sheet. Use about half of the filling. Using the back of a spoon, small spatula or a frosting knife, spread the cinnamon roll filling across the dough sheet. Starting at the bottom roll the crescent roll dough into a log shape, making sure to keep the filling inside of the dough.
- Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log into your desired number of cinnamon rolls. One can of crescent roll dough makes 6 cinnamon rolls. Repeat the same steps for the remaining crescent roll dough. Once all the cinnamon rolls have been made, place the rolls into a baking dish. Allow the cinnamon roll crescent rolls to “rest” at room temperature for 20 minutes while the oven preheats. Resting the dough is optional.
- Bake the cinnamon rolls at 350 F (177 C) for about 25 - 30 minutes or the tops of the crescent cinnamon rolls are golden brown and the centers are set. Cool the cinnamon rolls for about 10 minutes before topping with the homemade cream cheese frosting or vanilla glaze.
- Make the cream cheese frosting for cinnamon rolls by creaming theroom temperature butter with the room temperature cream cheese until smooth. Once smooth and well combined, mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla extract and heavy cream until smooth and well combined. Spread the cream cheese frosting onto warm crescent cinnamon rolls and enjoy.4 oz. (113 g) cream cheese, room temperature, 4 tablespoons (58 g) unsalted butter, room temperature, 1 - 1½ cups (120 - 180 g) powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract , 1 - 2 teaspoons heavy cream
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