Oh my goodness, these Croissant Cinnamon Rolls made with store-bought crescent roll dough are just the absolute best! Flaky, light, delicious, with an amazing cream cheese glaze on top. If you're looking for an EASY semi-homemade cinnamon roll recipe that is ready in under 40 minutes, you MUST try these!
Here's the full Youtube video for how to make these cinnamon rolls, so be sure to give it a LIKE and SUBSCRIBE to my channel.
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More breakfast sweet treats: French Toast Bread Pudding
Why we love these crescent cinnamon rolls
- Super flaky! The dough is light and flaky, so much better than traditional cinnamon rolls!
- So quick and easy to make! No stand mixer, no kneading, no waiting for dough to rise, no rolling out dough. Seriously, so easy a kid can do it on their own.
- The homemade cream cheese icing comes together quickly (no mixer needed!) and is about 15 times better than the icing that comes in the cinnamon rolls in a tube. I am not exaggerating.
- No artificial dyes. The Pillsbury Crescent rolls don't have artificial dyes, but their cinnamon rolls do. So use the Crescent rolls as a shortcut, make your own icing in 5 minutes, and you get a win-win-win: flavor, time-savings, and no dyes!
I hope I've convinced you to make cinnamon rolls with croissant dough. You won't regret it!
Ingredients
For the cinnamon rolls:
- 2 tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (or use store brand 8-ounce tubes, or use about 18x18 inches of croissant dough
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (you'll need 2 more tablespoons for the icing, so just take out 5 tablespoons from the fridge now)
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1-1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon, to taste
For the cream cheese icing:
- 3 ounces whipped cream cheese (4 tablespoons), room temperature (or use 3 ounces block cream cheese softened to room temperature)
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar (confectioner sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, or use vanilla bean paste for those gorgeous vanilla specks
- 1 pinch salt
- 2-3 teaspoons milk, as needed
More cinnamon breakfast treats: Maple Cinnamon Pancakes
Equipment
- 8x8 inch baking dish (if you only have a 9x13, then use 3 tubes of crescent rolls and multiply the rest of the ingredients by 1.5)
- Parchment paper, or a clean countertop to prep the cinnamon rolls
- Pizza cutter or ravioli cutter, or a sharp knife
- Bowls, measuring cups, spoons
More "is it breakfast or dessert?" recipes: Red Velvet Pancakes with Cream Cheese Glaze
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
Pop one tube of crescent dough, remove the dough onto parchment paper, and use your hands to gently stretch it into a rectangle. Do NOT separate it into triangles. Instead, use your fingers to pinch the seams together as much as you can.
Repeat with the other tube, then lay the two rectangle doughs next to each other with the long sides touching. Overlap the two parts by a quarter inch. Flatten the seam to join the two parts together. You should have single square dough.
Spread the softened butter over the dough.
In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons light sugar with 1-1.5 tablespoons cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the butter.
Use a ruler (or eyeball it) to lightly mark 8 notches on the 12-inch side of the dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 9 equal strips, each just over 1.5 inches wide. The edges don't have to be perfect.
Roll up the strips, taking care not to rip the dough at the seams where the crescent rolls are. It's OK if they tear a little, but you don't want to have loose pieces of cinnamon roll dough flapping around.
Arrange the 9 pieces in an 8x8-inch baking dish.
Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the center is baked through. (Yes, this is longer than the crescent rolls instructions on the tube because the cinnamon rolls are thicker.)
While the rolls are baking, combine all the ingredients for the icing except the milk in a bowl. Use a fork to mix it all together until you get a smooth icing. If the mixture is too dry, add ½ teaspoon milk at a time, but try not to add more than 3 teaspoons. It will seem like it won't come together, but just keep stirring.
Spread the cream cheese icing over the cinnamon rolls while they're still hot. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Kate's baking tips
- Use the butter paper to grease your baking dish, or take a piece of parchment paper, spread a tiny bit of softened butter on it, and use that to grease your dish. Parchment paper doesn't absorb grease so it's a great way to spread butter onto a baking dish!
- If you forgot to remove the butter from the fridge or if it's still firm at room temperature, you can cut it into ½ tablespoon pieces, put it in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave in 5 second increments, moving the butter around in between every increment so it doesn't all melt in one spot. Another trick is to put a boiling water into a glass or glass jar and let the jar heat up. Then remove the water and place the jar over a stick of butter. The hot air in the jar will soften the butter.
- If you forgot to remove the cream cheese from the fridge, use the same tricks as for the butter.
- I love using whipped cream cheese because it's so much easier to work into an icing with powdered sugar than block cream cheese. But block cream cheese will work great too! Just make sure it's super soft.
- Try not to add too much milk to the icing (1-2 teaspoons is typically OK). If it looks like it's not coming together, keep stirring for a minute or two before adding that 3rd teaspoon.
- My favorite cinnamon roll hack is to cut the dough intro strips before rolling. So much easier than trying to slice the rolls without squishing them!
Croissant Cinnamon Rolls (Crescent Cinnamon Rolls)
Ingredients
- 2 tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls or use store brand 8-ounce tubes, or use about 12x14 inches of croissant dough
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1-1.5 tablespoons ground cinnamon to taste
- 3 ounces whipped cream cheese (4 tablespoons), room temperature, or use 3 ounces block cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar (confectioner sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch salt
- 2-3 teaspoons milk as needed
Special equipment
- 8x8-inch baking dish (if you only have a 9x13, use 3 tubes of crescent rolls and multiply the rest of the ingredients by 1.5)
- Pizza Cutter or ravioli cutter, or a sharp knife
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
- Pop one tube of crescent dough, remove the dough, place it on parchment paper and use your hands to gently stretch it into a rectangle. Do NOT separate it into triangles. Instead, use your fingers to pinch the seams together as much as you can.
- Repeat with the other tube, then lay the two rectangle doughs next to each other on parchment paper with the long sides touching. Overlap the two pieces by a quarter inch. Flatten the seam to join the two pieces together. You should have a square dough.
- Spread the softened butter over the dough.
- In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons light sugar with 1-1.5 tablespoons cinnamon. Sprinkle the cinnamon over the butter.
- Use a ruler (or eyeball it) to lightly mark 8 notches on the 12-inch side of the dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 9 equal strips, each just over 1.5 inches wide.
- Roll up the strips, taking care not to rip the dough at the seams where the crescent rolls are. It's OK if they tear a little, but you don't want to have loose pieces of cinnamon roll dough flapping around.
- Arrange the 9 pieces in an 8x8-inch baking dish. Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and the center is baked through. (Yes, this is longer than the crescent rolls instructions on the tube because the cinnamon rolls are thicker.)
- While the rolls are baking, combine all the ingredients for the icing except the milk in a bowl. Use a fork to mix it all together until you get a smooth icing. If the mixture is too dry, add ½ teaspoon milk at a time, but try not to add more than 3 teaspoons. It will seem like it won't come together, but just keep stirring.
- Spread the cream cheese icing over the cinnamon rolls while they're still hot. Allow to cool and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Use the butter paper to grease your baking dish, or take a piece of parchment paper, spread a tiny bit of softened butter on it, and use that to grease your dish.
- If you forgot to remove the butter or cream cheese from the fridge, read the blog post for how to quickly soften them.
- Try not to add too much milk to the icing (1-2 teaspoons is typically OK). If it looks like it's not coming together, keep stirring for a minute or two before adding that 3rd teaspoon.
Monday 23rd of March 2026
My family loved this!
Kate
Friday 13th of March 2026
My husband does not get excited about a lot of foods, but he couldn't stop raving about these cinnamon rolls. And my super picky kid actually tried one (his first time agreeing to try cinnamon rolls) and liked it!! I hope you give this recipe a try and love these cinnamon rolls as much as we did.