Crescent Roll Candy Cane Danish (2024)

This Crescent Roll Candy Cane Danish is so delicious with all the cream cheese and cherries and the silky almond glaze drizzled over the top. This quick and easy crescent roll danish is perfect for breakfast on Christmas morning or any time during the holiday season.

🔑 Key to Success #1 – Line up the Crescents
🔑 Key to Success #2 – Add the Cheesecake Filling and the Cherries
🔑 Key to Success #3 – Fold Then Shape the Candy Cane
🔑 Key to Success #4 – Add Almond Flavor to the Glaze
📌 Get the Printable Recipe for Candy Cane Danish

Breakfast on Christmas morning is such a special tradition for many families.

Over the years, our traditions have changed for various reasons.

It’s always fun to cook up something special for the family though.

This cute Candy Cane Danish is the perfect breakfast that the whole family will love.

You can make it with any flavor of pie filling, but I especially love the festive red cherries in this easy recipe.

Be sure to check out our Easy Christmas Breakfast Ideas recipe round-up.

🔑 Key to Success #1 – Line up the Crescents

This crescent roll danish is so easy to make and perfect for holiday weekend mornings.

We’re using 12 crescents in our candy cane danish, which is 1 1/2 tubes of dough.

Lay out a large piece of parchment paper on the counter.

You’ll need about 24″ of parchment to lay out all the crescent roll triangles.

Line the triangles up with the long points facing to the left of the parchment paper.

Overlap the triangles one over the other so that you have a continuous section of dough about 3 inches wide.

Press the seams together firmly so that the crescents will stay together as the candy cane shape is baked.

🔑 Key to Success #2 – Add the Cheesecake Filling and the Cherries

The cheesecake filling is a mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and a little vanilla extract.

Be sure to soften the cream cheese before you start mixing up the filling.

You can allow the cream cheese to soften by leaving it unwrapped on the counter for a half hour or more.

Or you can microwave the unwrapped cream cheese for about 10 seconds.

It should be soft but not melted at all.

Use a hand mixer to blend the cream cheese mixture until it is thick and smooth.

Spread the cheesecake filling over the section of crescent dough that has been pressed together.

But leave a 1/2-inch border along the outside edge of the dough.

We’ll use this bare border to secure the points of the crescent triangles to cover the filling.

🔑 Key to Success #3 – Fold Then Shape the Candy Cane

Starting at the bottom of the crescent rolls, fold the tip of each crescent triangle over the filling.

Press the tip of the crescent triangle into the bare border on the right side of the crescent dough.

If needed, you can tuck the end of the triangle over to make it fit across the filling better.

Some of the crescent triangles are much longer than others.

So I had to tuck a good number of my triangles over when covering the filling.

Once you get to the top of the crescents, you can fold down the tip of the triangle to square off the top.

Next, gently lift the top section of the crescents and turn it to the left to form the hook of the candy cane.

When I shaped my candy cane, it ended up being about 19 inches tall.

The dough should bend easily due to the triangles.

Slide a baking sheet under the parchment paper so that you can transfer the candy cane danish to the oven.

You may need to cut off the extra parchment paper.

Or just fold it under to get the excess out of the way.

🔑 Key to Success #4 – Add Almond Flavor to the Glaze

You’ve probably heard this before, but cherry and almond flavors complement each other very well.

For this reason, we’re adding a little almond extract to our sweet glaze for our Candy Cane Danish.

If you don’t have almond extract, it’s okay to substitute vanilla extract instead.

I recommend using clear vanilla extract so that your glaze will remain white.

Stir together powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract until the glaze is smooth.

Let the glaze sit for a few minutes. so that the bubbles come to the top.

Finally, drizzle the glaze over the top of the Christmas danish.

📌 Get the Printable Recipe for Candy Cane Danish

Save this Cherry Cheesecake Crescent Candy Cane Danish recipe to your favorite Christmas Breakfast board or your Cute Christmas Treats board.

Crescent Roll Candy Cane Danish

4.41 from 10 votes

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Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 servings

Calories: 179kcal

Author: Jennifer

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Ingredients

For the Danish

▢ 2 pkgs, 8 oz each crescent rolls
▢ 8 oz cream cheese
▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
▢ 2 Tbsp milk
▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
▢ 1 can, 20 oz cherry pie filling

For the Icing

▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
▢ 3 Tbsp milk
▢ ¼ tsp almond extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
On a long sheet of parchment paper, lay out 12 crescent rolls overlapping one another with the long points facing to the left. Press the seams together firmly.
In a small mixing bowl, blend the cream cheese, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract for the cheesecake filling until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the crescents' right side, leaving about a 1/2-inch border along the outside edge. (You may have some cream cheese filling left over. See note.)
Spoon cherry pie filling along the middle of the cream cheese filling. (You will have some pie filling left over.)
Wrap the long points of the crescents over the filling and press the ends into the outer edges of the crescents. You can fold over the crescent roll points if they are too long. Press the seams firmly to seal the edges.
Gently maneuver the top end of the danish to the left to form a candy cane shape. Slide a baking sheet under the parchment paper.
Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes until the danish is golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes.
To make the glaze, stir together the powdered sugar, milk, and almond extract until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the danish.

Notes

You can substitute 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract in the icing if you'd prefer. I recommend a clear flavoring for the icing so that it will remain white.

Fill the remaining crescent rolls with the leftover toppings then bake alongside your candy cane danish. Simply add the toppings to the top of each crescent then fold the dough over to create a pocket. Press the seams firmly.

Equipment

Nutrition Facts

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