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Easy Mini King Cake Recipe with Crescent Rolls

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 tube refrigerated crescent rolls (I used Organic crescent rolls)
  • 6 teaspoons sugar (⅛ cup)
  • ½ tablespoon cinnamon
  • 4 tablespoons pecans (finely chopped (optional))
  • 1–2 tablespoons melted butter (optional)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 tablespoons water (I used half and half)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or almond extract)
  • Purple, Green and Yellow decorating sugars

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a mini muffin pan so your cakes don’t stick. Ellen's original recipe calls to make 14 mini King cakes, but my muffin pans only have 12 spots, so I split up the last few pieces and made 12 mini king cakes. Or cut smaller, making more, use mini muffin liners and use a regular muffin tin.
  2. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Watch out for clumps!
  3. Open crescent rolls (I used organic) and unroll them, putting them on a cutting board. Dust with a bit of flour first so that they don’t stick.
  4. Separate crescent rolls into pieces where you see the vertical perforations in the dough. Then, press seams at the diagonal perforations to create 4 rectangles. I used a floured rolling pin and rolled out each rectangle slightly.
  5. Optional step | If desired, brush with a little melted butter, this helps keep the cinnamon sugar inside when transferring to the pan.
  6. Spread the cinnamon sugar on top, plus the pecans if you’re using them. Roll the rectangles as you would cinnamon buns, starting at the long sides. Cut into 24-28 pieces. Use a sharp knife or a bench scraper.
  7. Place two or three pieces in each muffin tin and bake until golden brown. About 10-12 minutes. Let them cool before adding your frosting glaze!
  8. Remove Mardi gras King cakes to wire rack, cool. Or drizzle a little glaze on while they are hot, then add more when ready to decorate and cooled.
  9. To make the glaze, combine butter, powdered sugar, water or milk, and vanilla or almond extract. Mix and glaze your Mini King Cakes, then add the decorative sugars before the glaze hardens. Repeat until all of your treats are decorated!
  • Author: Dorothy Miler