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    Home » Recipes » Breads » Rolls

    Refrigerator Crescent Rolls

    Published by Melissa on November 18, 2013 | Updated June 10, 2022 | 43 Comments

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    Overnight-Refrigerator-Rolls-2-Barbara-Bakes

    Tender, fluffy rolls hot from the oven are a must have for Thanksgiving dinner. Be sure and make plenty because these light as air rolls will be gone in a flash. 

    Homemade rolls are my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. You just can’t buy rolls that taste as good as homemade. So I’ve teamed up with Red Star Yeast to show you just how easy they are to make at home. I know some people are afraid of using yeast, but this two step roll recipe is so easy, there’s nothing to be afraid of.

    Refrigerator Crescent Rolls

    The refrigerator roll recipe from Red Star Yeast makes having hot homemade rolls for Thanksgiving a breeze. You can make the dough up to three days ahead of time. On their website, Red Star has step by step instructions for making dough, as well as videos to show you how to make dough by hand, in a bread machine, and in a stand mixer. (I almost always use my stand mixer because it’s so easy.)

    Collage of how to Shape Crescent Rolls

    Crescent rolls are easy to shape. Roll the dough in to a circle. Cut the circle in to twelve pieces like you’d cut a pizza. I even use my pizza cutter to cut the dough. Take one section of the dough and gently stretch each piece to widen the top and lengthen in it. It sort of reminds me of a thong shape. Once you’ve stretched it, just start a the widest part and roll it up, tucking the point underneath the roll and curving the ends in. Then just repeat with the remaining pieces.

    Refrigerator Crescent Rolls Barbara Bakes

    This recipe uses shortening instead of butter. Using shortening makes a lighter fluffy roll, but if you’d rather use half or all butter, feel free to substitute it. I think I’ll use half and half this year for Thanksgiving.

    Overnight Refrigerator Crescent Rolls Barbara Bakes

    I made three dozen rolls from this recipe. If you want smaller rolls, you could divide the dough in fourths and make four dozen rolls.

    I’m having 10 people for Thanksgiving dinner and Ill make three dozen rolls. Hopefully, there’ll be a couple rolls left the next day, because I love leftover turkey sandwiches on homemade rolls.

    Featured Image for post Refrigerator Crescent Rolls
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    5 from 2 votes

    Refrigerator Crescent Rolls

    Cook Time20 mins
    Total Time20 mins
    Course: Rolls
    Servings: 3 dozen rolls
    Author: Barbara Schieving
    Prevent your screen from going to sleep

    Ingredients

    • 2 cups water
    • 2 eggs
    • ⅓ cup shortening*
    • 6 ½ cups bread flour
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • ½ cup sugar
    • 2 packages 4 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast**

    Instructions

    • Measure 2 ½ cups of the flour into a large mixer bowl. Add yeast; blend.
    • Combine water, shortening, sugar, and salt in a pan or microwave safe bowl. Heat until warm (120°-130°F), stirring constantly.
    • Add liquids to flour-yeast mixture. Add eggs. Beat 1 minute at low speed. Scrape down dough from sides of bowl. Beat 3 more minutes at high speed.
    • Switch to the dough hook, on low speed gradually add the remaining flour, add more or less as necessary flour to form a soft dough. Scrape down dough from sides of bowl.
    • Cover bowl first with wax paper, then with aluminum foil. Refrigerate no more than 3 days for best results. Punch down dough every 30 minutes for the first few hours until it is chilled, then once a day.
    • When ready to make rolls, divide the dough in to thirds. Refrigerator remaining dough until ready to shape.
    • To shape crescent rolls: Roll ⅓ of the dough into a 10-inch circle. Cut into 12 pie-shaped pieces. Roll each piece of dough from the wide side toward the point, stretching the dough slightly as it is rolled. Place on baking sheet a little apart; curve ends.
    • Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
    • Bake dinner rolls on baking sheet 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size, in preheated 400°F oven.
    • Remove from pan and set on rack; brush with butter.

    Notes

    *Can substitute half or all butter
    **Use active dry yeast for this recipe. Instant yeast is not recommended for refrigerated dough.
    Recipe slightly adapted from Red Star Yeast.

    Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Red Star Yeast, but all opinions expressed are always my own.  You can also find Red Star Yeast on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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    About Melissa & Barbara

    As of June 2022 Melissa Griffiths now is the one adding recipes. So think of it as Barbara Bakes, and Melissa too! Melissa and Barbara have been blogging friends for over 10 years and when Barbara was ready to retire and spend more time with her family, Melissa took over the site. Read more...

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Angie@Angie's Recipes

      November 19, 2013 at 3:56 am

      So soft and very tempting!

      Reply
    2. Mila

      November 19, 2013 at 1:26 am

      Barbara questa ricetta me la segno subito, perchè io ADORO i lievitati!!!!!
      BRA-VIS-SI-MA!!!!

      Reply
    3. Becca @ Crumbs and Chaos

      November 18, 2013 at 9:12 pm

      I love that these are make ahead…one less thing to do on the big day! These are gorgeous 🙂

      Reply
    4. angela@spinachtiger

      November 18, 2013 at 8:26 pm

      Barbara
      Crescent rolls are one of my must haves for Thanksgiving. You have made this look so easy and wonderful.

      Reply
    5. Carol

      November 18, 2013 at 8:16 pm

      Oh YES! My favorite thing to bake-bread! I’ve made rolls in all kinds of shapes but never crescent rolls…..time to give them a try.

      Thank you Barbara- I wish I could sample one of those beauties-they look amazing.

      Reply
    6. Anncats

      November 18, 2013 at 8:13 pm

      Looks yummy – I love to bake and love getting new recipes and ideas. Thank you so much for your ideas and even better, they are presented in a way that makes it fun and easy to give them a try!

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        November 18, 2013 at 8:23 pm

        What a sweet comment. Thank you so much. I really do try to give my readers confidence to try the recipes at home.

        Reply
    7. Lisa

      November 18, 2013 at 7:37 pm

      Can you use all purpose flour?

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        November 18, 2013 at 7:40 pm

        Yes, bread flour absorbs more water, so you might need more to add more flour.

        Reply
        • linda

          November 20, 2013 at 8:16 am

          Actually, I think all purpose (unbleached of course) would be even better because you really don’t need all that protein in a simple roll. Bread yes, rolls no. It might create a softer roll than the higher protein flour.

          Reply
    8. Lydia

      November 18, 2013 at 5:30 pm

      Hi, these look delicious…do you have any idea how it would work with gluten free flour? I have a hard time getting anything to rise right without regular flour.

      Reply
      • Barbara Schieving

        November 18, 2013 at 6:03 pm

        Thanks Lydia – sorry I don’t have any experience baking gluten free rolls.

        Reply
    9. Melissa B

      November 18, 2013 at 5:09 pm

      These sound delicious! Pinning and sharing on Twitter!

      Reply
    10. Claire @ Claire K Creations

      November 18, 2013 at 4:33 pm

      Barbara these look wonderful! I’ve been hanging out for a recipe for these for a while now because we don’t have the pre-made dough here in Aus.

      Reply
    11. My Inner Chick

      November 18, 2013 at 4:15 pm

      breathtakingly gorgeous. LOVE!

      Reply
    12. Megan - The Emotional Baker

      November 18, 2013 at 3:44 pm

      I love the idea of making your own crescent rolls. These will be great at Thanksgiving!

      Reply
    13. Emily

      November 18, 2013 at 12:51 pm

      I always use my pizza cutter for crescent rolls–makes it so easy!

      Reply
    14. Maureen | Orgasmic Chef

      November 18, 2013 at 10:32 am

      It’s 3:30am right now and I can’t wait til morning to try these. OMG they look fantastic! Perfect for Thanksgiving dinner.

      Reply
    15. Mique

      November 18, 2013 at 9:59 am

      I could eat rolls for breakfast, lunch and dinner. These look beautiful!

      Reply
    16. Maria

      November 18, 2013 at 9:56 am

      The rolls are perfect!!

      Reply
    17. 2 Sisters Recipes

      November 18, 2013 at 7:52 am

      Good Idea Barbara! I never made them just because there’s too much to prepare and cook on Thanksgiving day. We cooked last year for 20 people and this year we are about 9. But these looks delicious!

      Reply
    18. Stephanie @ PlainChicken

      November 18, 2013 at 7:21 am

      I love crescent rolls. I bet these are a million times better than the canned rolls. 🙂

      Can’t wait to try them!

      Reply
    19. Rosa

      November 18, 2013 at 7:14 am

      Beautiful and very tempting!

      Cheers,

      Rosa

      Reply
    20. Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar

      November 18, 2013 at 7:00 am

      I need to get on these asap! Crescents are my weakness.

      Reply
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