Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

This speedy recipe for cream cheese coffee cake made with crescent roll dough calls for just five ingredients and is a perfect brunch treat!

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 medium bowl with 3/4 of a cup of brown sugar, and beat it up until it is smooth. You can use a stand mixer or a handheld mixer.

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 on low speed (save the white for later in a small bowl, 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, dollop the cream cheese mixture over it and spread it with a knife or an offset spatula, and gently press the other square on top of the cream cheese layer.

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 to bake 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 FAQs

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!

We want to know what you think! 🤔

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.

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Easy Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

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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!

• Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 9 squares
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 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

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray an 8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough, and then place the other half of the dough on top.
5. 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.
6. 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!