Easy Sopapilla Cheesecake Recipe

One of the best things about getting married was marrying into a whole new set of traditions. My family really only does Christmas bingo and the 12 days of Christmas. For Christmas every year my husband’s family gets together and has a Mexican feast. White chicken enchiladas, tamales, posole, and homemade sopapillas. It’s totally different from the typical ham (or prime rib) my family normally eats, and I love it. But one of my absolute favorite parts of the entire meal is the dessert. My mother-in-law often makes this sopapilla cheesecake and agreed to let me share the recipe with you because it’s so good and deserves to be enjoyed! This recipe is a total crowd pleaser that the entire family will love. It’s seriously like eating a churro dipped in the best cream cheese dip but in bar form. And you don’t have to try it and eat it warm like a churro – it’s actually best chilled! AND it’s the easiest thing ever. Crescent rolls topped with cheesecake filling topped with more crescent rolls topped with cinnamon sugar topping and butter. Three minutes to make, a few more minutes to bake, and you’ve got a delicious dessert in under 30 minutes! You could totally buy the bulk pack of crescent rolls and make this sopapilla cheesecake, this ham breakfast casserole, and some blackberry rolls and have the perfect brunch menu!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

Crescent rolls – you can either use regular crescent rolls and just press them down into the pan or I prefer to use crescent roll sheets. The sheets aren’t always available so crescent rolls work just fine.

Instructions

Ready for the easiest dessert ever? Here you go! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray or grease a 9×13 glass baking dish. Roll out one of package of your crescent roll sheet into the bottom of the baking dish. Beat the cream cheese, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and vanilla together using smooth. I recommend doing this with either an actual mixer or a hand mixer to get it as smooth as possible. Once it’s all mixed together, spread the cream cheese mixture over the first layer of crescent rolls. This will be your cheesecake filling. Gently roll out your other crescent roll package and place it on top of the cream cheese mixture. This will be the base for your cinnamon sugar topping and will seal the sopapilla cheesecake in. Mix cinnamon and the remaining sugar together to make cinnamon sugar. You can either follow the recipe or make a larger batch and use extras in something else like this cinnamon streusel coffee cake or homemade cinnamon chips. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top of the crescent rolls, making sure to spread it out evenly to cover the entire layer. It’s better to have more cinnamon sugar on each bite than not have any at all – that’d just taste like a crescent roll with cream cheese inside. Spread the cubes of butter all over the top of the cinnamon sugar. Don’t skip this step – this is what turns that cinnamon sugar into a delicious topping instead of just cinnamon sugar. Bake for 25 minutes (the topping should be golden brown) then remove from the oven and let cool in the pan. If you’re super impatient, you can cut and serve right away. Just know the filling will be warm and if you’ve ever tried cheesecake warm, it’s good but not great. I’ve totally done it, and it’s doable. This is even better if you let it cool then chill it in the refrigerator before serving. Then it tastes like actual cheesecake filling since cheesecake is meant to be chilled. Slice into bars to serve.

Expert Tips

Let the sopapilla cheesecake cool before slicing. This will make it much easier to slice and will turn out in prettier bars. Spread the cream cheese and cinnamon sugar layers evenly for the best flavor on each individual bite. Pinch the crescent roll seams together to fill any gaps before covering with the cream cheese filling. Check to see if the cheesecake is done by pressing lightly on the top layer. If it feels like the crescent roll is cooked, it’s done. It’s typically just about 25 minutes but error on the side of less cooked than undercooked.