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These Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars are a rich, decadent dessert that comes together so easy with a crescent roll dough crust, sweetened cream cheese, and a cinnamon sugar topping! Totally irresistible!
It’s probably no surprise that guests at my house get fed lots of desserts. After all, I’m constantly coming up with new dessert recipes and testing them out on friends and family.
These sopapilla cheesecake bars are one of those desserts that gets requested quite often. Pretty sure my sister-in-law once made herself sick eating half the pan of these. But who can blame her? They’re good!
I love a good cheesecake. Our cookies and cream cheesecake and gingerbread cheesecake are big favorites!
This sopapilla cheesecake is a bit different than what you may be used to. Instead of a graham cracker crust, we start with buttery crescent roll dough. Don’t worry – it’s going to be amazing!
What is a Sopapilla Cheesecake?
A sopapilla is a popular fried Mexican pastry that can be prepared in a few different ways. These cheesecake bars are definitely more of an Americanized version of sopapilla cheesecake rather than an authentic Mexican dessert recipe.
These sopapilla cheesecake bars feature a buttery cinnamon sugar topping with a nice thick layer of sweetened cream cheese between flaky crescent roll dough crust. They’re sliced into bars for easy serving!
What Readers are Saying!
“These are PHENOMENAL!!! I have made them twice in less than a week. They are HEAVENLY!!!” – Joanna E.
Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
- 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups sugar divided
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 packages refrigerated crescent dough sheets 8 ounces each
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup butter room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
- In the bowl of a mixer, beat together the cream cheese, 1 cup of sugar, and vanilla extract until fully combined and smooth.
- Place one sheet of crescent dough in the prepared 9×13 pan, pressing it to the edges. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the dough and top with the remaining sheet of dough.
- In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and softened butter. Mix with a fork until combined.
- Drop small pieces of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top of the dough.
- Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the dough has puffed and turned golden. Remove from the oven and cool before serving.
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Sopapilla Cheesecake Ingredients:
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Cream Cheese – You’ll start with two blocks of softened cream cheese. Make sure it is good and soft so that it mixes together with the sugar and vanilla nicely.
Vanilla Extract – We use real vanilla extract for the best flavor in our baking recipes.
Crescent Roll Dough – I find it easiest to purchase a package of the dough sheets rather than the crescent rolls. If all you can find are rolls, just use your fingers to lightly pinch the perforations together.
Cinnamon & Sugar – It’s hard to beat a sweet cinnamon sugar topping for pretty much any dessert, and this sopapilla cheesecake recipe is no exception! You’ll mix these up with the butter to make the topping.
Butter – You’ll combine the softened butter with the cinnamon and sugar to make a flaky topping for these bars.
My Favorite Vanilla!
I use this vanilla extract in pretty much all of my recipes! It’s got incredible flavor and is the best brand I’ve found for baking. Try it out!
Helpful Tips for Easy Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars:
- Crescent Roll Dough: I mean sure, you could go to the trouble of preparing a homemade dough for the cheesecake crust. But these are supposed to be easy cheesecake bars so stick with the crescent roll sheets of dough. They’re super easy to use and require no effort at all!
- Cream Cheese: Make sure you are starting with softened cream cheese! You’ll end up with a lumpy texture if you use cold cream cheese.
- Sugar: We use granulated sugar here, but brown sugar would likely work well in the topping if you wanted a bit different flavor.
- Topping: You don’t have to stick to just cinnamon and sugar! A drizzle of honey is another popular way to top these cheesecake bars. Maple syrup, chocolate syrup, caramel sauce, and whipped cream are good choices too!
What We Love About This Recipe:
- Easy: The crescent roll dough makes this an easy sopapilla cheesecake recipe! You really don’t have to do much work at all in this recipe except for the mixing.
- Topping: We just can’t get enough of the sweet cinnamon & sugar topping! It’s a lot like a churro cheesecake. We also love that you can top it with honey or syrup!
How To Make Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars:
Mix: Start by adding the softened cream cheese to a mixing bowl along with the vanilla extract and a cup of sugar. Beat together until fully combined and smooth.
Dough: Now for the super easy part! Unroll the sheets of crescent roll dough and place one of the sheets into the prepared baking dish. That’ll be the bottom layer!
Filling: Now for the cheesecake filling! Spread the cream cheese mixture over the top of the sheet of dough in the baking dish in an even layer.
Dough: Finally, top the cream cheese with the other sheet of crescent roll dough.
Cinnamon Sugar: To prepare the cinnamon sugar topping add the softened butter to a small bowl with the cinnamon and sugar. Mix it together with a fork until it is well combined.
Top & Bake: Drop small pieces of the mixture over the top of the dough to finish preparing the crescent roll cheesecake for baking! Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until the dough has puffed up and turned a golden color.
FAQ’s:
This sopapilla cheesecake recipe needs to be refrigerated due to the cream cheese. Keep these bars in the fridge in an airtight container and they’ll last for up to 4 days!
You can freeze these sopapilla cheesecake bars by placing them on a parchment lined baking sheet in the freezer for an hour or so and then transferring to a freezer safe container. Freeze for up to 3 months and thaw overnight in the fridge before serving.
Heck no! This Mexican pastry recipe is about as Americanized as it gets. It’s still a tasty treat though!
MORE CHEESECAKE RECIPES!
- Oreo Cheesecake Bites
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars
- Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake
- Keto Pumpkin Cheesecake
This recipe was originally published in 2012. Original photo below:
Carole says
Can I use puff pastry in these please? Can’t find the crescent roll pastry in the UK. Thanks
Karly Campbell says
Hi Carole! I haven’t tried this with puff pastry, but it should work great! I would bake the bottom layer of puff pastry first for 10 minutes or so to get it started, top with the cream cheese mixture and second layer, and then finish baking until it’s golden brown and the pastry looks cooked through. 🙂
Dawn says
These sound delicious! Thanks.
Karly Campbell says
Hope you give them a try!
Carrol Houllis says
These are so good
Karly Campbell says
Thanks, Carrol!
Renee says
Just wondering if you don’t par-bake the dough, won’t it be soggy at the bottom?
Karly Campbell says
We don’t find it soggy. 🙂
P.J. Coldren says
I made this. I promise you it will not last four days. I used the OLD crescent rolls, that home in triangles; just pressed the seams together and it worked just fine. I know I’ll be making these again . . . and I might make them savory with the smoked salmon cream cheese spread or the vegetable garlic stuff.
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed these!
Beth Hawkins says
Can’t wait to try this! I have all the ingredients.
Karly says
Oh, you’re going to love them! These are always a bit hit. 🙂
Wowguy says
If it has sopapilla it must be good. If it has cheesecake it must be good?
vadeem says
Very interesting! Would like to give it a try.
Deb says
you can also add fresh fruit or pie filling over cream cheese mixture 🙂
Karly says
Great idea!
Joanna Emmons says
These are PHENOMENAL!!! I have made them twice in less than a week. Ther are HEAVENLY!!!
Liz says
Thank you. Sounds good and easy. Have a great weekend and make it safe.