Ugly But Delicious

I had a little teaser picture over the weekend for this recipe, and a couple people guessed what it was! This ugly but delicious recipe is Sopaipilla Cheesecake! Ever had a sopaipilla? Even know what a sopaipilla is? Well let me tell you. Here in Texas, we can get sopaipillas at Mexican or Tex-Mex restaurants as dessert. It's a deep fried piece of dough that puffs as it cooks, making a pillow of sorts. They're served warm with a side of butter and honey for drizzling in the center or on top of them. See picture here. They're super light and airy, the slightest bit chewy and sweet.

I've had sopaipillas dusted with powdered sugar, plain with honey, drizzled with chocolate sauce and now with cinnamon sugar. The recipe calls it cheesecake, but these are more like cheesecake bars as they consist of a crust on the bottom and the top of the sweetened cheesy filling. This is by no means a low-cal dessert, although you could use neufchatel or reduced fat cream cheese as well as reducing the sugar and using margarine in place of the butter. However, if they taste like dirt, don't be complainin' to me!

This recipe came together in a matter of minutes. I wasn't so sure they would amount to much, flavor wise, because it was rather ugly looking, but sometimes those are the best recipes. Can I get an Amen?! The best part, in my opinion, was the flaky buttery cinnamon sugar on top of the crescent dough. It reminded me very much of cinnamon toast...with a side of cheesecake. Does it get better? I preferred these cold because I don't like warm cream cheese, but slightly warmed with a drizzle of honey would also be delicious. I would definitely make these again, only next time I'd increase the filling. You can never have too much filling!

Sopaipilla Cheesecake Bars from Food.com

Printer Friendly Verison

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
• 2 (8 ounce) tubes refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (Pillsbury brand)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

Using a greased 9 x 13 baking pan, unroll one package of refrigerated crescent rolls. Line the bottom of the pan and flatten, pinching seams together as you go. In a medium bowl, add together the cream cheese, sugar and extract. Mix til well blended. Spread mixture over the crescent rolls.

Unroll the other can of crescent rolls and place on top of cream cheese mixture.

Pour one stick of melted butter over the top and sprinkle with about 1/2 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Allow to cool, eat at room temperature or serve chilled. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Hope you have a great day. Thanks for stopping by!