It’s the time of year when all the apple recipes come out, and this gluten free apple crescent roll recipe is a perfect addition to your autumn recipe box! They’re super simple to make, and can be bite-sized finger foods for parties or larger rolls served with an impressive dollop of your favorite ice cream.
This dough makes a yummy, sweet, crunchy gluten free crescent roll substitute for all kinds of desserts, including this one! Get creative and shape it in other pretty ways, with or without the apples.
I can see mini-pies made in muffin cups with pumpkin, or enveloping a wheel of brie, topped with cranberry preserves. There are so many yummy possibilities!
When you use my gfJules™ Gluten Free All Purpose Flour to make this dough, it’s easy to work with, not brittle or crumbly, so you can wrap the dough around any number of sweet treats!
*Note: If you’re looking for a more savory or puffed crescent roll recipe more akin to those refrigerated Crescent Rolls we all remember, try my puffy yeasted Crescent Rolls recipe which I love for things like Pigs in a Blanket and dinner rolls.
Gluten Free Apple Crescent Rolls Recipe
Ingredients
Crescent Roll Pastry:
- ¾ cup (12 Tbs.) unsalted butter or non-dairy alternative, softened (I used Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened (dairy or non-dairy like Kite Hill® Almond Milk Cream Cheese or Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet® soy-based cream cheese)
- 2 Tbs. granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ cups gfJules™ Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
- ½ tsp. sea salt
Topping:
- 3 Tbs. melted butter or non-dairy alternative, softened (I used Earth Balance® Buttery Sticks)
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut palm sugar
- 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- ½ cup pecans, finely chopped (optional)
- 2-3 apples, sliced into thick wedges with the skin on (I used organic Gala)
- Milk or olive oil for brushing on tops to help them brown (dairy or non-dairy)
- Demerara sugar for tops after baking (optional)
Instructions
Beat together butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk gfJules™ flour and salt, then stir into the cream cheese mixture until a smooth dough is formed.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight. Chilling the dough will help it be less sticky and easier to work with.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper and setting aside.
Dust a clean counter or pastry mat well with more gfJules™ flour or cornstarch. Divide the dough in half and re-wrap one half, returning to the refrigerator.
Roll out the other half to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut strips as wide as your apple slices. Cut each strip into elongated triangles, at least 8-9 inches long (the longer the triangle of dough, the more times it will wrap around the apple, so decide if you want more pastry or more apple in each baked crescent).
Brush each triangle with melted butter, then lightly sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans, if using (see photo for amount to sprinkle). Lay one apple slice at the wide end of each triangle and begin rolling the dough up around the apple like a log. If there is extra dough on the ends extending beyond the apple slice, curl it around to form a crescent shape. Transfer to the parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with milk and sprinkle with Demerara sugar, if desired. Repeat with remaining dough and apples, gathering up any scraps of dough and re-rolling, if necessary.
Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Remove to cool on wire racks. Serve on their own or with ice cream or yogurt.
Makes 16-20 crescent rolls, depending on size.
If you are looking for a quick and easy replacement for crescent rolls this is it! I use this recipe in a variety of walls but our favorite treat is to make what we call “sausage pinwheels”. I roll out the dough, then fill it with sausage, and then roll it as you would cinnamon rolls. I like to freeze the rolls and pull the roll (or rolls) out the night before I plan on cooking it. When ready to cook I brush with melted plant butter or milk, cook on 375 for about 8-10 minutes. I use plant butter and added an extra 4tbs of the plant butter to the mixture to help it set as a dough.
Oh wow – what an ingenious recipe modification! Way to make this traditionally sweet recipe savory! I love it! Thanks so much for sharing, Amanda!!!
~jules
Hi Jules! I tried this recipe with all the exact ingredients listed. I actually wrote you the comment about the cheese danish recipe a week ago and how the dough came out very crumbly for me. You responded and said it could be that is was lacking moisture from the flax egg. So I ordered more of your flour and decided to try this recipe because it seemed easier and it doesn’t require egg or flax egg (I really lost confidence with using flax egg because of my last experience). Unfortunately, this recipe did not work for me either. The dough still came out crumbly when trying to roll it up with the apple inside. Its frustrating because I’m using all ingredients and following every single step but something is going wrong. I even gradually added more water for moisture in the dough mixture when I felt like it would crumble. Then I put it back in the fridge for a while to chill. I still could not work with it. I am for sure that I’m doing something wrong. For now, I’m just going to stick with the basic cookie recipes you’ve shared until I get the crescent pastry dough right. Until then, do you have a video on how to make the cheese danish or apple crescent from start (making the dough) to finish (pulling the results out of the oven)??? I have looked and I cannot find a video that you’ve done on YouTube specifically for a crescent pastry recipe. I should be okay making the cookie recipe, it’s just the crescent pastry recipes I have trouble with trying to make the dough. I am a visual learner, and I really think I would do better following along while actually SEEING it being done in action.
I also want to be clear that the dough had lots of moisture. It’s not dry and its very squishy. It just did not have any elasticity when trying to roll it with the apple and was very fragile, but not dry. I hope that makes sense!
Can you use coconut yogurt instead of the cream cheese?
Hi Raquel, I haven’t tried that. Cream cheese is a very different consistency and moisture level. I think before I tried that sub, I’d use a vegan butter, but if you want to give it a try, I’d love to hear how it turns out! 🙂
~jules
Pumpkin cream cheese roll ups here I come!
OOoooooh that does sound like a great twist, Heidi! YUM!
~jules
There’s nothing I won’t try to make pumpkin flavored. Nothing. This isn’t even a fall hobby for me, it’s a year round obsession.
I’m with you, girl! Give me ALL the pumpkin!
~jules
I can’t wait to try this! I made the apple bites for my in-laws when they were visiting; but sadly, I couldn’t have any since I used regular, store-bought crescent rolls. Now I can have some too! YAY! Thanks, Jules!
Yes Laura, now you can have some too!!! Also be sure to check out my gluten-free recipe for fluffy crescent rolls like those refrigerator ones we all used to rely on!
~jules
I’m going to try the pastry part of this recipe in another application. I want to cut strips of rolled-out dough and use them to wrap hotdogs, baking them and turning them into something looking like mummies, using something black for eyes peaking out. I saw a photo of this once, from a Pillsbury crescent roll recipe.
Hi Toni, for that, I would use this gluten-free crescent rolls recipe instead. Have fun!
~jules
Looks good looking forward to making them.
I hope you love the recipe, Florence! Also be sure to try my gluten free puffy crescent rolls recipe, too!
~jules
Hi, just bought your flour, haven’t tried it yet – but can you tell me, is there any difference or benefit in using salt free butter in recipes – other than it being less salty?
Hi Ruthie – thanks for writing and I’m happy to help! Salt free butter just allows you — the baker — to decide how much salt you want in your recipe. No other difference in performance. Hope that helps!
Enjoy the flour and happy baking!
~jules
What amount of flour do you receive when ordering the
sample for $ 5.00 shipping fee?
Hi Janet, there are 100grams of my gfJules flour in the sample and it comes with a recipe to use that exact amount to try.
Hope that helps!
~jules
What delicious little bites of apple pie!
It is a lot like a little bite of apple pie, Steph! Well-put!
~jules
Wow! I can see myself dipping these little tasty treats into caramel dip or pumpkin butter. They look phenomenal!
Hugs,
Chrystal
OOoh! I like that idea, Chrystal!!
~jules
I just love the apple!!! What a fantastic Fall treat!
Thanks Rebecca, sometimes it’s the simplest things that are so sublimely delicious!
~jules
I’m looking forward to trying this recipe! I use crescent rolls for savory as well as sweet items. I’m looking forward to making pigs in a blanket as well as breakfast pizza.
Hi Asingle, you may want to try my savory yeasted crescent rolls recipe for pigs in a blanket. Check it out and see what you think!
~jules