Updated: January 2022
My wonderful college friend, Jody, and I were chatting not too long ago and she told me about this great recipe she makes called Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars.
Whaaaaaaat? How have I never heard of this? She immediately messaged the ingredients and baking instructions and it sounds wonderful.
Since Bret brought home a Costco-sized box of cream cheese, I’ve been looking for something good to make and boy, is this it!
I told Jody nonchalantly that I would try it soon and post it, but was already figuring out in my head which ingredients were on hand and how soon could I make it.
There are only a few ingredients – crescent rolls, cream cheese, sugar, a little vanilla, and cinnamon. Who would have thought such simple ingredients would make such an eye-rolling, delicious dessert!
After the first forkful, Bret looked at me and asked if I was going to give any of this away (kids, it’s fun to share), but I didn’t have any plans to. 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. Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars are incredible, easy to make, and I will forever thank Jody for bringing it into our lives (I know, dramatic, but true!).
That crunchy sugar/cinnamon top along with the creamy cheesecake filling combination will make you smile.
If you try any recipes from this site up to this point, I highly recommend this one.
Hint: you can make it a little lighter by using 1/3 fat Neufchatel cream cheese – it’s just as delicious. Of course it still has the stick of butter drizzled on top, but the recipe definitely needs that!
More wonderful recipes with cream cheese!
- Raspberry Cream Cheese Coffee Cake
- Buffalo Cream Cheese Chicken
- Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Crescent Cookies
Sopapilla Cheesecake
The creamy cheesecake along with the buttery crust and crunch of baked cinnamon sugar is irresistible!
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
- Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until center is set. Cool for 20-30 minutes before serving warm. Cover and refrigerate any remaining bars (if there ARE any leftovers..)
Notes
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.
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?
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20 Serving Size: 1 pieceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 125Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 74mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 0gSugar: 15gProtein: 1g
Nutrition Values are Approximate