Chicken Crescents Makeover

Friday, January 2, 2009



I found the original version of this recipe in a ward cookbook back from my college days. I made it for Glen when we were newly married and it quickly became one of our first "staples" in our dinner menu. Each of the five kids has also grown to love it, which is an unusual occurrence in our house. Since I found myself making it so often I decided that we needed a few tweaks to liven it up and make it a little healthier (shh...don't tell the kids) . Here's my version, which although a little more time consuming, is better than the original! It's still my most kid requested meal ever.

Click here for printable recipe.

The ingredients:
Instead of using store bought crescents (too expensive and not very healthy), I make this quick one-rise-roll recipe:


1-3/4 cups warm water
3 Tbs. yeast

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar or honey
(I prefer honey)
2 eggs
1 Tbs. salt
5-6 cups flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)


Mix all ingredients together and knead for 10 minutes.

While kneading the roll dough, mix the following ingredients together:

2-pkgs. (8-oz. each) cream cheese (I use low fat)
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped red or green pepper

1-can cooked chicken (I use a can from Costco) OR 1-2 cups cooked, diced chicken breasts
Don't bother letting the roll dough rise. After kneading, divide the dough into four equal sections. Roll out each section of dough and with a pizza cutter slice the dough into 8 pieces. Add a heaping spoonful of cream cheese mixture onto the fat end of each piece.
Tuck in the fat end and roll towards the narrow end.
It should look something like this now:
Place rolled crescents onto greased cookie sheet, let rise for 10-15 minutes and bake at 400° for 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. You'll want to catch them just as they're beginning to brown. Makes 32 crescents or about 8-10 servings. Serve plain or with warm cream of chicken soup to use as a gravy. (I like them better plain, Glen likes it with the soup.)
We usually end up with several leftover crescents which I place into a freezer bag and throw frozen into the kids' lunches. They're perfectly thawed by lunchtime and my kids love getting something besides a sandwich.

Enjoy!

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13 comments:

Mirien January 20, 2009 at 2:39 AM  

I tried this for Sunday dinner and we loved it! My mom used to make this with the crescent rolls but I never did because they were too expensive and unhealthy. Your dough recipe worked perfectly, and I even used all whole wheat flour (with a couple spoonfuls of wheat gluten). My family has requested that I make these again soon. Thanks!

Mirien January 20, 2009 at 2:41 AM  

Oh, and the lunchbox idea--big hit.

melissa March 31, 2010 at 9:03 PM  

I made this tonight. My husbands comment...

"amazing!" however I don't know if he was saying that because it was "amazing that I cooked" or "amazing tasting food!" since he ate several I'm going to assume the latter!

The kids had zero comments, in fact their was so much silence at the table I had to double check making sure my children were in fact at the table. yes they were... just eating... and then taking seconds...

great recipe! thanks for sharing!

Lively Luckinbills June 15, 2010 at 6:54 PM  

Wonderful and so versitile. They could be good with more veggies or even ham!

Kristen September 6, 2010 at 10:34 PM  

Thanks Lara for sharing this with me - I'm bookmarking it! Cheers!

FoodontheTable October 6, 2010 at 6:05 PM  

Thanks for the how-to with scratch crescent dough! These look like they would be a hit. Happy to see you at No Whine Wednesday!

Julie December 11, 2010 at 8:19 PM  

Yum! We've had the regular version before, but I much prefer feeding my kids healthy food! We all loved them. Thanks for the recipe!

Anonymous,  March 7, 2011 at 8:49 AM  

I could see this being a huge hit with my husband and kids! I am definitely going to make this next week for one of our dinners!! Thanks!

Anonymous,  March 7, 2011 at 2:16 PM  

I have been making these for years, and everyone just loves them! No one in my family will eat the peppers though, so I omit those and add chopped up celery! Delicious!

Anonymous,  March 14, 2011 at 7:39 PM  

I finally had some time to make this tonight! Very yummy. I didn't realize that I had to use canola oil and used vegetable oil instead. After 6 cups of flour the dough was still pretty wet. I think near the end, I ended up with almost 8 cups of flour... they still turned out but were doughy. Do you think the vegetable oil is why the dough was still wet after 6 cups of flour?

Lara March 14, 2011 at 10:59 PM  

Larissa, No it wouldn't really matter what type of oil you used. My suggestion would be to only use the 6 cups of flour and then use a bunch of flour when you roll out the dough. I think that a softer dough makes for a better tasting crescent. You'll have to let me know if you try it again.

Anonymous,  March 21, 2011 at 2:31 PM  

Thanks Lara! I will definitely be making these again :-) I'll let you know how it turns out next time!

Anonymous,  July 18, 2011 at 9:52 PM  

Yum! I made these today and they were fabulous. I didn't have enough filling to use up all the dough - so I rolled what was left into cinnamon buns and those were great too!!

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About This Blog

My name is Lara and while I'm definitely not a gourmet cook, I do love preparing tasty, healthy meals for my family. Finding new recipes to try and sharing the ones we've already fallen in love with is a passion I've had since college and the reason why I've started this blog! With five kids, I'm usually in a hurry, so you'll find most of these recipes kid friendly and simple to make.

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