Christmas Tree Coffee Cake is a quick and easy breakfast Danish idea that is perfect for Christmas morning or any time during the holidays. This festive breakfast bread recipe is made from refrigerated crescent roll dough and couldn’t be easier to make.
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I can hear my sister, Heather, saying, “it looks hard.”
But looks can be deceiving, and it’s really easy to put together.
I’m sharing all the tips you need to make a super cute Christmas tree for breakfast.
Disclosure – I may get a small commission for purchases made through affiliate links in this post.
🔑 Key to Success #1 – Cut Crescents into Strips then Twist
This Christmas Tree Coffee Cake’s main ingredient is a tube of refrigerated crescent roll dough.
Unroll the dough into two long rectangles and place them onto a sheet of waxed paper.
Use your fingers to press the seams to seal them well.
Use a pizza wheel or a sharp knife to cut each rectangle into four long strips.
I used a pizza wheel and cut each rectangle down the middle from top to bottom.
Then I cut each piece in half again.
You should end up with 8 long strips of crescent roll dough.
One at a time, twist each strip of dough a few times.
The easiest way is to lift one end of the dough strip and twist it, then move to the other end and twist it a couple of times.
The twists do not have to be perfect and there is no exact number of twists that you should end up with.
If your seams start to come separated, simply pinch them back together.
The seams do not have to be perfect either.
The twists and imperfections add texture to your Christmas tree, and that’s exactly what you are going for here.
🔑 Key to Success #2 – Form the Tree
Place a sheet of parchment paper over your cookie sheet so that your Christmas Tree will be easy to remove.
Start at the top of the parchment paper and form your Christmas tree.
Form a small loop with the dough for the top of the tree then start winding the dough back and forth to form the tree branches.
As you move down the tree, your design should get wider as you go down.
Use the photo of the dough below as a guide when laying out your tree shape.
When you get to the end of one strip, add another strip right at the end of it.
It should be like you have one continuous string of dough, but it’s not necessary to press the ends of each strip together.
Make sure each row of dough is touching the one above it.
Or almost touching is okay.
When the coffee cake is baked, the layers will come together to form one complete Christmas tree.
When you get to the bottom of the tree, add a loop of dough for the tree trunk.
Once you have your dough laid out for the Christmas tree, sprinkle with sugar and orange peel.
Orange peel can be found in the spices section of your local grocery store.
Or you can freshly grate an orange peel.
If you don’t have any orange peel on hand, you can leave it out.
Don’t stress if you don’t have it on hand.
🔑 Key to Success #3 – Top with Orange Glaze and Decorate
When the Christmas Tree comes out of the oven, transfer it to a serving platter or serving board immediately.
Move the parchment paper and bread over to the serving platter then gently pull the parchment out from under the bread.
Next, stir together the powdered sugar and orange juice to make a tasty glaze for your Christmas tree.
Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze all over the tree.
The final step is making your Christmas tree festive.
We’re using red and green candied cherries to decorate our Christmas tree.
Cut the cherries in half then place them all over your bread.
You could use maraschino cherries in place of the candied cherries.
Or you can even use holiday-colored M&Ms or another festive, colorful candy.
📌 Get the Printable Recipe for Christmas Tree Coffee Cake
Save this Christmas Tree Coffee Cake recipe to your favorite Christmas Breakfast board or your Holiday Brunch board.
Christmas Tree Coffee Cake
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 1 can 8 oz refrigerated crescent roll dough
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 tsp grated orange peel optional
For the Glaze
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 Tbsp orange juice
- 4 red candied cherries halved
- 4 green candied cherries halved
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Unroll crescent roll into 2 long rectangles. Press seams to seal. Cut each rectangle lengthwise into 4 strips. Twist each dough strip several times.
- Zigzag the twisted strips of dough back and forth across the cookie sheet to form a tree shape. Make sure each row of dough is touching and add additional strips as each is finished. The tree should get wider toward the bottom.
- End with a curl of dough at the center of the bottom to form a tree trunk.
- In a small bowl, mix sugar and orange peel. Sprinkle over the dough.
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes until golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet and place on a serving tray.
- In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth. Drizzle the glaze or the bread. Top with cherry halves.
Notes
- Can substitute maraschino cherries for the candied cherries.
- Try substituting M&Ms or other holiday candies instead of cherries.
Equipment
Nutrition
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