Homemade crescent rolls are great for holiday dinners or other special occasion meals. These crescent rolls are soft and delicious served warm with butter.
I’ve been wanting to make crescent rolls for a long time. There’s something about being able to create that crescent shape –it’s not hard to make but it looks so pretty. And I love the soft golden look to them when they are finished baking. So, I made some crescent rolls for the first time, trying out one last potential Thanksgiving recipe.
Recipes Notes
- These aren’t flaky crescent rolls like you get if you use puff pastry. Instead, they are soft and buttery.
- Since these are made with yeast, you need to plan ahead. The dough is easy to make, but it needs to rise twice, once when you make the dough and a second time after you roll form it into crescent rolls.
- I used a stand mixer to make the dough and knead it which makes things faster and easier. You can mix and knead the dough by hand, but it will take longer.
- Instead of making large rolls, I made mini crescent rolls. You can roll the dough into a bigger piece and make large ones. I’ve included the bake time for both.
- These are meant to be buttery rolls, so the butter is very important in this recipe. It might seem like a lot but if you reduce the amount your crescents will be bland.
- Overall, these are easy to make on the scale of difficulty for yeast bread. The rolls came out fluffy and so cute.
Overall, I was pretty excited about how my first attempt at crescent rolls turned out. I had a hard time breaking one of these pretty rolls open and ruining the shape.
Ingredients
Ingredients- All-purpose flour
- Instant yeast
- Warm water
- Skim milk
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Salt
- Softened unsalted butter
Instructions
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water, eggs, and milk to the yeast mixture. With the dough hook attachment, mix and knead the dough at medium to high speed. While the mixer is kneading, slowly add the butter.
Knead the dough until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. At this point, it will be a tacky and soft dough but not too sticky. When you touch the crescent dough, it shouldn’t stick to your hands. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes for it to reach this state.
Oil a large bowl and place the dough in it. Turn the dough to coat it in the oil and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it to rise in a warm spot until it has doubled in size.
Lightly punch the dough down and divide it in half. Roll each piece out to a 12″ circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut each round into 16 wedges for large rolls or 8 wedges for small rolls. A pizza cutter makes it easy to slice.
To make the crescent shape, start at the tip of a wedge and roll the dough up into itself. Once it’s rolled, turn the edges inward to make a crescent roll shape. Place the rolls on a prepared baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Leave the unbaked crescent rolls to rise for 20 minutes. While you wait, preheat the oven to 400°F.
If you made large ones, bake them for 14 minutes. If your rolls are small, bake them for nine to ten minutes. They are done once they are puffed and golden brown.
Serve them warm or at room temperature.
Recipe Tips
- For an extra treat, you could brush the warm crescents with melted butter for serving.
- This would be a great dough to use to make homemade pigs in a blanket for a fun appetizer.
- I think they are best warm from the oven, but they will keep at room temperature for a few days. You could also freeze them to have later.
If you’re new to making rolls, this is a good recipe to try because it’s not hard to do. They smell really good while they’re baking and are a good option if you’re looking for Thanksgiving menu ideas.
More Dinner Roll Recipes
Crescent Rolls
Ingredients
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
- 1/3 cup water
- 3/4 cup skim milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter softened
Instructions
- In a large bowl of a stand mixer, mix flour with instant yeast, sugar and salt. Add in the water, eggs and milk. Knead the dough with the dough hook attachment at medium to high speed and slowly add the butter. Knead until the dough pulls away from the bowl and is no longer too sticky, about 10 to 15 minutes. (It will still be sticky but it should not stick to your hands.)
- Oil the bottom of a large bowl. Place dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about 1 hour in a warm place, until doubled in size.
- Punch dough down and divide into 2 equal parts. On a floured surface roll each part into a 12 inch circle, using a rolling pin. Using a pizza wheel cutter cut the round into 16 triangles for mini crescents or 8 triangles for large crescents. Slice the dough like slicing a pizza.
- To roll each triangle into crescents, start from the thin tip of the triangle and roll until all of the triangle is rolled up. Once rolled, curve the edges and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper with the tip tucked down and under the roll. Repeat rolling with the rest of the triangles. Let them rise for about 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Bake for 9-10 minutes for mini rolls (14 minutes for large rolls) until puffed and golden brown.
Notes
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
Can I bake these with mini sausage ?
And I love your recipe!
I’ve never tried but I don’t see why not!
Your crescent rolls looks so pretty! They would be a perfect bread for any cold weather meal.
Hi Connie- I was pretty happy with how they turned out =)
I love crescent rolls but most of the store bought were too greasy.
This one looks good and definitely not greasy.
Yes these definitely were not greasy