Make a cherry cheese danish wreath with canned crescent rolls filled with cream cheese and cherries.
Christmas morning is one of the most magical mornings of the entire year. So of course you want breakfast to be something special. This beautiful cherry cheese danish wreath is easy to make. It’s also incredibly festive, making it perfect for Christmas morning.
If you want to make more, you can double this recipe by using another can of crescent rolls. Your circle in the center will be much bigger, and you’ll need to increase the filling ingredients. The recipe calls for one can of 21 oz cherry pie filling, which will make about 3 of these. So plan ahead and make a few.
Cherry Cheese Danish Wreath
Preheat your oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. You don’t want this to stick so makes sure to grease the parchment paper. You can also use butter, shortening or oil to grease it. Once it’s greased set the prepared baking sheet aside.
Put the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a small mixing bowl. We always bake with homemade vanilla extract. It’s super easy to make and makes great gifts. You could also substitute half the vanilla with half almond extract to make a cherry almond wreath.
Mix the cream cheese thoroughly with the sugar and extract. You can use a wooden spoon, spatula, or a mixer to do this. Once the mixture is nice and smooth, set it aside.
Next prepare the dough wreath. Start by opening the crescent roll cans and then unrolling the crescent rolls. Place the crescent rolls, one at a time, onto your prepared baking sheet in a circle made with the flat bottoms of the crescent rolls in the center of the circle.
Think of it as a clock and place 1 triangle at 12, 3, 6 and 9. Place the additional 4 triangles in between, overlapping. Gently press the overlapping pieces together to form a solid piece of dough.
Use a spatula to carefully spread the cream cheese mixture onto dough in a circle around the center opening. Use up all of the mixture.
Then use a spoon to top the cream cheese filling with cherry pie filling. Focus on grabbing whole cherries out of the pie filling.
One can of 21 oz cherry pie filling will make about 3 wreaths. Go all the way around the center of the wreath with the cherries.
Once the filling has been added, fold over the tips of the dough, from the outside in, and tuck underneath the center of the dough. You may want to trim the pointy ends of the crescent rolls so they don’t stick out the other side of the wreath. You can toss the ends or use them to make holly leaves for your wreath.
Continue all the way around the wreath until all of the rolls are tucked in. You can use the tips to make leaves, if you want, at this point.
Use a pastry brush to spread the melted butter on top of dough.
Finally, sprinkle with decorating sugar. You could use green sugar to make the wreath more green.
Bake the wreath in your preheated oven for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes before serving warm topped with fresh mint.
Cherry Cheese Danish Wreath
Ingredients
- 1 can 8 oz, crescent rolls
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup cherry pie filling
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- Decorating sugar or white sugar
- Fresh mint
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add cream cheese, sugar and vanilla and mix well.
- Unroll dough and place onto prepared baking sheet. Think of it as a clock and place 1 triangle at 12, 3, 6 and 9. Place the additional 4 triangles in between, overlapping. Gently press the overlapping pieces together.
- Spread cream cheese mixture onto dough and top with cherries. Fold over the tips of the dough, from the outside in, and tuck the end under the dough. You may trim the dough before tucking it under.
- Spread butter on top of dough with a pastry brush and sprinkle with decorating sugar.
- Bake for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from oven, let stand for 5 minutes before serving warm topped with fresh mint.