Lemon Twist Bread

Transform traditional crescent rolls into a lemon and cream cheese filled, flaky breakfast treat. This semi-homemade Lemon Twist Bread has a streusel topping and lemon glaze.

Lemon Bread Recipe

If you love lemons and breakfast danishes, you’ll love this lemon twist bread. Serve with a cup of coffee, a few eggs and a slice of bacon for an easy breakfast or brunch to serve to guests!

What is crescent roll dough?

Crescent rolls are a flaky, croissant style dough. It’s soft. It’s buttery. And versatile! Although you can make crescent roll dough from scratch, most recipes call for refrigerated crescent roll dough to make them quick and easy. No kneading,  no rising…just pop open the tube and you’re ready to start making this twisted bread.

Is crescent roll dough the same as puff pastry? 

No. For this recipe we used crescent roll dough. Although puff pastry may work for this recipe, we’ve not tried it so can’t give hints for that.

Lemon Cream Cheese Filling

One of my favorite breakfast treats are cream cheese danishes. This lemon bread recipe is a close second because it is filled with cream cheese and lemon pie filling. The pie filling will sweeten the cream cheese a bit, but add two tablespoons of sugar for just the right amount of sweetness.

How do you make streusel topping?

The traditional flour, butter, sugar streusel goes both inside the bread and on top. When you make the streusel, be sure the butter is cold. We use a pastry cutter to cut butter into flour and sugar. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use two knives and chop/mix the butter in.

How do you make lemon glaze?

Streusel and glaze? You bet. Powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest make up this simple glaze. Use a fork or a whisk to get out any little powdered sugar lumps and mix until it is smooth. Delicious.

How to Make Twist Bread

• Crescent rolls come in sheets now. If you use regular crescent rolls with the perforated marks, roll the perforations to seal them up.
• Mix the filling and spread it on the dough.
• Make the streusel and sprinkle half of it on the dough and reserve the other half for topping.
• Roll the dough up from the long side and seal the ends.
• Make a circle and seal the ends together.
• Twist the circle to make a “figure 8” as shown below.
• Top with the additional streusel and then bake it for about 30-35 minutes or until it is golden brown.
• Mix up the glaze and allow the bread to cool at least 20 minutes before drizzling the glaze overtop the bread.

 Other Lemon Recipes

• Lemon Cream Puffs
• Lemon Pound Cake
• Lemon Cool Whip Cookies
• Lemon Sugar Cookies
• Lemon Shortbread Cookies
• Lemon Biscotti

Tools to Make This Recipe

• Pastry Cutter: I use this tool all the time. It cuts butter into flour perfectly for streusels, crusts and other pastries.
• Silpat: For all of your non-stick, cookie-making needs. This is in the top 3 must-have kitchen tools. I don’t know what I’d do without them!
• Baking Sheet: I like to use flat baking sheets for easy removing baked goods easily.
• Pastry Mat:: This silicone mat keeps your cupboard clean and makes rolling out pastries so easy.

Lemon Twist Bread

5 from 3 votes

Transform traditional crescent rolls into a lemon and cream cheese filled, flaky breakfast treat. This semi-homemade Lemon Twist Bread has a streusel topping and lemon glaze.

Servings 8

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes minutes

Total Time 55 minutes minutes

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Ingredients

 

US Customary - Metric

• 1 crescent roll dough sheet or regular crescent rolls

Filling

• 4 ounces cream cheese (cold)
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• ½ cup canned lemon pie filling

Streusel

• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon butter

Glaze

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
• zest of ½ lemon

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prep a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Spray some non-stick spray onto the parchment paper for easy transfer when it’s done.
• In a small bowl, use a pastry cutter to combine and mix the streusel ingredients until crumbly. Set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar and lemon pie filling. Mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until well combined and creamy. Set aside.
• Unroll your crescent roll dough sheet, if you are using regular crescent rolls then unroll the sheet and seal together all of the perforations.
• Evenly spread the filling mixture onto the rolled out sheet of dough. Top the filling with half of your streusel mixture. From the long side, roll up the dough into a log and seal the end. Then, take each end, connect together and seal the ends to create a circle.
• Carefully, twist the circle to create a figure eight. Transfer to your prepared cookie sheet, brush with melted butter and top with the remaining streusel.
• Bake in the oven for 35 minutes, until golden brown on top. Cool for 20 minutes. While cooling, combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle on top once cooled.
• Tip : The bread is delicate like a pastry, gently cut with a perforated knife to prevent squishing.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 194kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 22mg | Sodium: 127mg | Potassium: 19mg | Sugar: 27g | Vitamin A: 235IU | Vitamin C: 1.1mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 0.2mg

Author Julie Clark

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Calories 194

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