Merry Christmas MKE readers! I am about to give you an amazing gift; time with your family and the most amazing crescent rolls with your holiday meal. You do not have to spend your entire day in the kitchen to have a great meal! One of my favorite parts of dinner is warm, freshly baked rolls right out of the oven. These Freezer Crescent rolls are amazing! Everyone flips over them. But getting the timing right and finding time to make homemade rolls when there is so much cooking going on can get kind of crazy. These Freezer Crescent Rolls are delicious, look beautiful, and can be made 2-3 weeks ahead of time and stored in your freezer! Make these ahead = make your life easier.

Imagine that instead of making dough, waiting for it to rise, shaping it, rising again, just pulling out your baking sheet, lining it with parchment paper, and setting the rolls out to rise. Then go play a game, watch a movie or two, assemble some toys and come back to find your rolls all ready for the oven. Pop them in for 12-15 minutes. They will be ready when guests arrive bringing their dishes to share and they will think you have been baking all day. You don’t have to tell our secret.

Honestly, I make these all year long. They are so handy when I am in a hurry. To make them fit my schedule I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Sometimes I put the pan in a cold oven to rise. The draft free atmosphere is perfect for Freezer Crescent Rolls. If my oven is all ready occupied, putting them on heating pad set to low will also speed things up.

But sometimes, I need to slow things down. If my rolls rise early than expected, I just cover them with plastic wrap and set them in the fridge until it is time to bake them. With these two methods, I can get perfectly timed warm, fresh rolls on the table with dinner.

This recipe makes 32 rolls, so it is perfect for a holiday crowd. You can halve the recipe, but I find they always get used. It is nice to be able to pull out just the amount you need for dinner instead of always having to make the entire batch.

Freezer Crescent Rolls

Ingredients

5 teaspoons of active dry yeast
1/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
9 cups flour, divided
2 cups warm milk (110° to 115°)
1 cup room temperature butter
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
3-4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

Dissolve yeast in water in a large mixing bowl or bowl of your mixer. Using a stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, add 4 cups flour, milk, butter, sugar, eggs and salt. Beat until smooth.
Switch to dough hook on mixer and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth. Place in a oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2-3 hours. Punch dough down; divide into four equal parts. Roll each into a 9 inch circle and and brush with butter. Cut into eight pie wedges. roll up each wedge from the wide edge to the tip of dough, and pinch to seal. Place rolls, tip down, on baking sheets; freeze. When frozen, place in freezer bags and keep frozen until needed.
To bake, place on Silpat or parchment lined baking sheets. Thaw 5 hours, or until doubled in size. Bake at 375° for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from baking sheets and serve immediately or cool on wire racks.

Looking for some great gift ideas? Make sure to check out 10 Educational Board Games for Kids on our sister site, This Grandma is Fun!