This Best Ever Sopapilla Cheesecake Recipe (Churro Cheesecake) is an easy to make dessert and absolutely delicious. Each bite is cinnamon sugar flavor filled with creamy and smooth cheesecake filling. Made with Pillsbury crescent rolls to mimic the churro or sopapilla dough, a yummy cheesecake filling, and a slightly crunchy outer cinnamon sugar layer make it a hit with a crowd.
Churro Cheesecake is a great year round dessert. It is especially great for Cinco de Mayo and Christmas. Make them into bars or bites and enjoy! We love making them for family and friends.
What is Sopapilla Cheesecake?
What is sopapilla cheesecake? A churro cheesecake Made with cinnamon sugar, crescent rolls or sopapilla dough, then filled with cheesecake and topped with more crescent rolls and more cinnamon and sugar then baked. It is often served with dulce de leche.
This was inspired by my Churro Chips and goes great with my Homemade Caramel Sauce on top. For more cinnamon treats, check out our Snickerdoodles Without Cream of Tartar and our Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls.
Pair this fun dessert with a flavor-filled Birria Quesadillas or Birria Pizza.
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What is Churro Cheesecake made of?
Below is a list of ingredients needed for this recipe. Follow our tips on each ingredient for best results.
- Crescent Rolls- we like to use Pillsbury crescent rolls, but any brand will do. We also like to use the sheets, but if you have the regular, just press the seams together.
- cream cheese- we highly recommend PHILADELPHIA cream cheese for the smoothest texture. When testing this recipe, we found that off brand cream cheese sometimes yielded a gritty or lumpy texture. We also found that if the cream cheese was cold instead of softened to room temperature, the results were much smoother.
- Egg- for the cheesecake filling to help it bake properly.
- granulated sugar- both to mix with the cinnamon for the churro flavor, and to mix for the cheesecake filling.
- Vanilla- we recommend pure vanilla for the best flavor, but imitation is fine since the highlight of this recipe is the churro flavor.
- Cinnamon- to give it that amazing cinnamon sugar flavor!
See recipe card for quantities.
How to Make Churro Cheesecake
Use these process shots to help get the results you want. The pictures can help with texture and be a visual guide for best results.
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Mix together the cinnamon and part of the sugar together in a bowl. Lightly spray the bottom of a 9x13 pan with oil. Sprinkle about ¼ of the cinnamon sugar mixture onto the bottom of the pan.
2. If using the crescent roll sheets, lay it on top of the cinnamon and sugar, and cut away or press in any excess that may be coming up the sides. If using the regular rolls, press together the seams before placing in the pan on the cinnamon sugar.
3. Beat one brick of cream cheese together with half of the sugar for 2 minutes, scraping down the sides at minute one. Add one more package of cream cheese and beat for another minute. Scrape down the sides and add the last package of cream cheese and beat for one more minute.
4. Add the rest of the sugar and beat an additional minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Smooth the cheesecake filling over the crescent roll.
5. Place the second sheet of crescent roll dough (with seams pressed together if applicable) on top of the cheesecake filling. Melt butter and use a pastry brush to brush it over the top layer of crescent roll dough.
6. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350° F. The cinnamon will be bubbly and when you nudge the pan, the cheesecake should wobble a little. Allow to cool completely at room temperature (about 90 minutes-2 hours), then move to the refrigerator and chill 2-24 hours. Serve cold.
Hint: Don't over bake the cheesecake. Instead of being smooth and creamy, it'll be a little tough and a little dry.
Variations
We love switching things up when we're in the kitchen. Try any of these variations for something a little different.
- Dulce de Leche - our absolute favorite way to serve this is to drizzle dulce de leche over the top of this recipe when serving. It adds so much flavor and deliciousness! Try caramel if you don't have dulce de leche.
- Braum's Sopapilla Cheesecake Sundae - to copy this famous sundae: serve with ice cream and all the toppings! Chocolate, Dulce de leche, caramel, whipped cream and more! Go the extra mile and cut the cheesecake into bites, then use mix them into homemade ice cream.
- Strawberry - top with fresh or sugared strawberries, this is very popular! You can also try cherries or rapsberries.
- Honey - Another classic way to serve this recipe is to top with honey. Drizzle on top for a delicious authentic flavor.
- Puff Pastry - I was skeptical about the Pillsbury crescent rolls too. But they taste really good with the churro cheesecake! You can absolutely substitute the crescent rolls with puff pastry.
Learn From Us
One time when making this, I forgot to get my cream cheese out ahead of time to soften and I didn't feel like waiting or softening it in the microwave. I tried to use the cold cream cheese, but it wouldn't beat smooth! I ended up having to wait for it to warm up so that my cheesecake wasn't lumpy.
How long is Sopapilla Cheesecake good for?
Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. These store well, but the cheesecake will start to weep into the crust making it soggy after a few days.
Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. We recommend cutting them into bars or bites before freezing. Thaw bars for 15-30 minutes before eating and thaw bites for 5-20 minutes before enjoying.
Top tips
The longer you wait to serve your cheesecake, the softer the crust will be. For a crunchier churro crust, serve as soon as it's done being refrigerated.
Make into churro bites by cutting into 1 ½" squares and serving on a platter.
Related
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Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with [this recipe]:
Recipe
Best EVER Sopapilla Cheesecake
Ingredients
- 2 rolls crescent roll dough I used Pillsbury
For the Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
For the cheesecake center
- 24 ounce cream cheese softened. Philadelphia for the best creamiest results
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla
- 1 egg
Other
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Combine sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl for the cinnamon sugar mixture. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan then pour about ¼ of the cinnamon sugar mixture over top. Open one can of crescent dough. If it's sectioned off, press the seams together then place in pan on top of the cinnamon mixture.
- Beat the softened cream cheese and half the sugar together in a bowl for 3 minutes on medium low, scraping down after each minute of mixing. Add the remaining sugar and beat 1 more minute. Scrape down the sides. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well combined. Layer the cheesecake mixture on top of the crescent dough in the pan.
- Melt the butter. Place the remaining tube of crescent dough on top of the cheesecake layer (pressing seams together beforehand if there are any). Brush butter over the top, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon and sugar mixture.
- Bake for 32-35 minutes. The top will be bubbly and there will be a slight wobble when you nudge the pan. Allow to cool at room temperature for one hour, then refrigerate for 2-24 hours before serving. The longer you wait to serve, the softer the crust will be. Serve cold. Enjoy!
- Top with dulce de leche or honey for a more authentic experience. Caramel, chocolate sauce, nutella and more can also be used.
Notes
- Make sure your cream cheese is softened to room temperature. This will produce the smoothest cream cheese filling.
- Make little churro bites, by cutting these into bite size squares and serving them on a platter.
- Feel free to substitute sopapilla dough for the crescent roll dough.
- This is very popular topped with fresh strawberries and we recommend it or dulce de leche.
- Store in the refrigerator for 3 days.
- Store in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Cut into bites or bars before freezing. Thaw at room temperature for a few minutes (bites) or for 15-30 minutes (bars).
Nicole says
This Sopapilla Cheesecake recipe is the absolute best! It was so easy to make. We had the leftovers with ice cream and toppings and it reminded me of the sopapilla cheesecake sundae we had from braum's. Next time I might use the leftovers and cut them into bites instead of bars and use it to make ice cream. yummm.
Derrik says
Made this last night for Cinco de Mayo and it is amazing! I was expecting this to be super rich, but it ended up being the perfect bite every time.