This speedy recipe for cream cheese coffee cake made with crescent roll dough calls for just five ingredients and is a perfect brunch treat!
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why we love this recipe
You know what I almost always and forever have on hand in my fridge? Besides (natch) bacon?
CRESCENT ROLLS.
Those triangle-shaped pieces of dough in a tube that we all know and love, and while they are all kinds of addictive when you roll them up into the crescent rolls they were born to be, they are also the Secret Ingredient in this cream cheese coffee cake recipe.
We are going take that dough, add a little brown sugar and cream cheese and an egg, and transform it into the sweetest little coffee cake. With nuts if you want them (we want them) but you can leave them out if you don’t!
Five ingredients. 45 minutes. One delectable cream cheese coffee cake!
ingredients you need
ingredient notes and substitutions
- Crescent Roll Dough: You can find this in the refrigerated section of your supermarket hanging out near the dairy products.
- Brown Sugar: We like light brown sugar for this recipe, but if dark brown is what you have on hand, that will work! It will just add a teeny bit more molasses taste.
- Nuts: We used walnuts for this recipe, but chopped pecans will also work…and one day I am going to try this with chopped macadamia nuts! Yum!
how to make this recipe
Step 1: Grab that square baking pan that I know you have somewhere, give it a spritz of baking spray and crank up your oven to 350.
Step 2: Take a package of cream cheese that you have cleverly left out on the counter to soften, pop it in a mixing bowl with 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar, and beat it up until it is smooth.
PRO TIP: Take the cream cheese out of the wrapper while it is still cold and let it soften on a plate. That way you won’t have softened cream cheese sticking to the wrapper!
STEP 3: Next, mix in an egg yolk (save the white for later, and here’s the best way to separate eggs) and now you are ready for the crescent rolls!
STEP 4: Open up the can (remember when you were supposed to whack it on the side of the counter? Those were the days!) and take out the dough. Cut it in half so you have two squares.
STEP 5: Now, press one square into the bottom of the baking dish, spread the cream cheese mixture over it, and gently press the other square on top.
STEP 6: Remember that egg white? Brush the top of your coffee cake with it.
STEP 7: Step sprinkle on a little more brown sugar and some chopped walnuts.
Pop it in the oven for a half hour, then bring it out, let it cool a little, and cut it into squares – I usually do 9 squares, but you do you. And there you have it! Coffee cake time!
recipe FAQ
You can! You can also use the supermarket brand. As long as the package says crescent roll dough, you are good!
Yep! Or you can swap in a different kind – we like this with chopped pecans too.
Pop your question in the Comments section below and I will answer pronto!
want to round out your meal?
We love a nice beverage with our coffee cake! In the summer we will make up a pot of fresh mint tea, or if we are feeling frisky, a strawberry basil margarita!
And in the winter? Red wine hot chocolate please!
other snack cakes we love!
could you leave us some stars?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section. Your thoughts and advice will help both us and your fellow readers. 🥰
PrintEasy Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
This speedy recipe for easy cream cheese coffee cake made with crescent roll dough calls for just five ingredients and is a perfect brunch treat!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 9 squares 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1 eight ounce can crescent roll dough
- 1 eight ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and spray an 8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
- Put the cream cheese and ½ cup brown sugar in a mixing bowl and beat it with an electric mixer until smooth. Separate the egg and add the yolk to the cream cheese mixture (save the egg while for later) and beat it in well.
- Open the can of crescent roll dough and cut it in half so you have two squares. Press one of the squares into the bottom of the baking dish.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, and then place the other half of the dough on top.
- Brush the top of your coffee cake with the egg white and sprinkle first the nuts and then the rest of the sugar on top.
- Pop it in the oven and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool for a little bit and then cut into squares and serve!
Notes
-
- Crescent Roll Dough: You can find this in the refrigerated section of your supermarket hanging out near the dairy products.
-
- Brown Sugar: We like light brown sugar for this recipe, but if dark brown is what you have on hand, that will work! It will just add a teeny bit more molasses taste.
-
- Nuts: We used walnuts for this recipe, but chopped pecans will also work…and one day I am going to try this with chopped macadamia nuts! Yum!
Keywords: easy cream cheese coffee cake, how to make coffee cake with crescent rolls, crescent roll coffee cake recipe, cream cheese coffee cake
Hi Judith – I would think because it is not thicker (just longer) that the baking time would be the same, so I would check it after 30 minutes and see how it looks…and then extend the baking time in 5 minute increments if it seems to need a little more time to brown up.
Judith R says
I tripled recipe and baking in 9×13 pan. How long to bake at 350?
Clara says
I love anything with cream cheese! Can you use the low-fat kind, do you think?
★★★★★
Hi Clara and me too – I’m about to eat a perfectly toasted bagel with cream cheese! And yes, the low-fat kind will work fine with this recipe. Happy baking!
Robin HOLDEN says
Hello, We do not have tins of crescent roll dough in Australia. Any hint, as to what else can be used. We have frozen sheets of Puff pastry and Shortcrust pasty. Thank you Robin
Hi Robin! You can definitely use puff pastry dough – it will be a little lighter and flakier but that might be even better! I would roll it out a little first to flatten it out. If you try this, can you come back and leave a comment to let us know how it came out? Thank you and happy baking! :)
Theresa M Murphy says
We love this in our house! But I double everything and put it in a 9×13 pan so there is plenty to go around, because it is THAT good and second (and third!) helpings are inevitable. I also do a savory version of this for the 9×9 pan: cook up a pound of your favorite ground sausage along with a package of frozen peppers and onions stir-fry mix. Drain off any fat and then mix with the 8-oz package of softened cream cheese. Put crescent rolls in bottom of pan, spread sausage mix over top, add top crescent rolls, sprinkle liberally with freshly grated parmesan cheese and bake. This makes a good breakfast or supper dish in my house.
Well that sounds like something I need to try out IMMEDIATELY! Aren’t crescent rolls the best? Happy weekend, my friend!