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These lemon cheesecake filled rolls are so delicious you won’t believe how easy they are to make. Yet another use for crescent roll dough.
Crescent Roll Dough Is The Secret
Well, maybe not so much a secret since there’s many things you can make with crescent roll dough. Actually, it’s pretty versatile since you can do sweet and savoury with it.
One of my most popular savoury recipes, Chicken Crescent Bake, uses crescent roll dough as biscuits on top. My Cheeseburger Ring also uses it. I’ve also made danish in my air fryer with it.
It’s always a good idea to keep a couple of tubes of this in the fridge. Now, they are selling solid sheets of crescent roll dough. I find this a much better option than the pre-cut sheets.
Easy To Shape
There’s really no complicated rolling or twisting necessary to shape these rolls.
You simply cut each tube of dough into 4 pieces. Now, that seems like it’s really thick; and it is. But you flatten the dough down with the palm of your hand until it’s about 1-inch thick, then you make a nice depression in the center and build a little “lip” for the edge. Each piece should be about 3 or so inches in diameter and it should look like a pizza crust–with a depression in the center and a little hump around the edge.
Just make sure the depression in the center is thin enough so the dough cooks completely.
Lemon Cheesecake And Lemon Icing
Not only do you have a lovely lemony cheesecake filling, but the icing is buttery and lemony too!
It’s not a drizzle icing–it’s more of a regular buttercream consistency and should be piped on top. If you don’t have a cake decorating set, a zippered freezer bag with a teeny bit of the corner cut off will do fine. I have a cake decorating set, but 9 times out of 10 I will use the freezer bag method. Why? Nothing to clean up!!!
The Recipe
Lemon Cheesecake Sweet Rolls
Ingredients
- 2 tubes 8 oz each refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 1 tbs unsalted butter melted
- 1 tbs sugar
Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 1 tbs lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
Icing:
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 2 tsp grated lemon zest
- 2 1/2 tbs lemon juice
- 2 tbs unsalted butter softened
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- Open crescent roll dough but DO NOT UNROLL. Cut each roll into 4 pieces and place on baking sheet.
- Flatten each piece to about 1/2-inch thickness then using your fingers, make a well in the center of each piece leaving a “wall” at the edge, making a nest for the filling. The pieces should resemble a bird’s nest. Brush the edges with the melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
- Beat all the filing ingredients until smooth. Divide equally among prepared rolls.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
- Beat together the icing ingredients. Place in a zippered freezer bag and cut off a small piece at the edge of the bag. Pipe evenly over rolls.