Many, many years ago, back in college days, my dear friend Jody made a wonderful Key Lime Pie and I’ve been thinking about making it later this year for a summertime post and review. So, off went a message to Jody to get the ingredients for it and in passing she says one of her claim-to-fame recipes is Sopapilla Cheesecake. Whaaaaaaat? How have I never heard of this? She immediately messaged the ingredients and baking instructions and it sounded wonderful!
I told her nonchalantly that I would try it soon and post it, but was already figuring out which ingredients were on hand. Finally the opportunity to make it arose a couple of days ago and I could tell it was going to be something we would enjoy. After the first forkful, Bret looked at me and asked if I was going to give any of this away (it’s fun to share!), but I didn’t have any plans to and he said that was good because it needed to stay here…all of it. Wow, I wish this recipe would have been in my files years ago. It’s incredible, easy to make, and I will forever thank Jody for bringing it into our lives (I know, dramatic, but true!). Bret has already planned to take it next Christmas to the family gathering!
If you try any recipes from this site up to this point, I highly recommend this one….
- 2 cans (8 oz. each) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
- 2 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar (divided)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 C butter , melted
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll one can of crescent rolls and gently spread on the bottom of an ungreased 13x9 glass baking dish. Stretch it to cover the bottom evenly and pinch together the seams. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, 1 cup of the sugar and the vanilla until creamy and mixed well. Spread carefully and evenly over the dough in the pan. Unroll the second roll of dough and gently lay it evenly on top of the cream cheese mixture, pinching together the seams. Pour the melted butter evenly over the top layer of the dough. Mix the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the butter mixture.
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Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool for 20-30 minutes before serving warm. Cover and refrigerate (yeah, right) any remaining bars.
Tips and Stuff: Keep the rolls refrigerated until ready to spread in the pan - if they warm up at all, they will be difficult to spread evenly.
In an effort to lighten it up (!) I used 1 pkg. regular cream cheese and 1 pkg. of Neufchatel (1/3 less fat) cream cheese. It was wonderful and next time might try using all Neufchatel.
I used a heaping teaspoon of really good Penzy's cinnamon. It was perfect.
It was perfectly done in 30 minutes. I don't recommend leaving it in any longer.
This is best eaten warm. Microwave leftover servings for about 20 seconds after removing from refrigerator. It was great with coffee, too, so it would be a good breakfast choice....Hey it has cheese, butter and crescents....why not?