Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside.

Cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up with a spoon as it cooks. You want it fully browned with no pink remaining, about 8 to 10 minutes. Tip the skillet and spoon off as much of the fat as you can, then transfer the sausage to a mixing bowl.

Let the sausage cool in the bowl for at least 10 minutes. This step matters. If the meat is too hot it will soften the cream cheese too fast and the filling gets greasy instead of creamy.

Add the softened cream cheese, garlic powder, and black pepper to the cooled sausage. Stir everything together until the cream cheese is fully mixed in and you have a thick, uniform filling with no white streaks.

Open both cans of crescent dough and unroll them on a clean surface. Separate at the perforations to get individual triangles, then use a sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut each triangle in half lengthwise from the wide base to the tip. You will have 32 smaller triangles total.

Place a heaping teaspoon of the sausage filling near the wide end of each small triangle. Fold the two outer corners of the wide end up over the filling, then roll the dough toward the point, tucking the tip underneath the bite. Press the seam gently so it stays closed.

Arrange the bites on the prepared baking sheet, seam side down, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until the tops are deep golden brown and the dough feels set when you press it lightly. Garnish with parsley if using and serve warm.