Easy Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

If you love sopapillas, but you’re also in love with sugar and cinnamon, have I got a treat for you! These easy Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars are simple to make and absolutely packed with texture and flavor. 

What is a Sopapilla? 

If you’ve visited any Tex-Mex restaurant in the south, you might already know what a sopapilla is.

These delicious sweet treat consists of fried dough squares (or triangles) that have been dusted with powdered sugar. They’re most often served warm. The dough (a flour, baking powder mixture) is rolled out, cut into pieces, and then deep-fried until it puffs up and turns golden brown.

They’re light and crispy on the outside, super soft on the inside, and have a little pocket to hold the good stuff, if you’re so inclined.

Some folks like to slather theirs with honey. (I just happen to have some, which I purchased from a local family member.) 

Still others like to dip their sopapillas into whipped cream. (Yum! My personal favorite!)

No matter how you eat them, they’re delicious. 

Sopapillas in Bar Form? Yes, Please!

I happen to have a recipe for sopapillas but until today I’d never made them in cheesecake bar form.

I found this recipe for Sopapilla Cheesecake bars at Food Network after a friend recommended it. And you guys know that if a good friend recommends something, you’ve got to try it! So, I really had no choice!

I happen to be going to a small group dinner tonight and we’re having fajitas so I thought, “This is it! This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for, to make these Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars!” 

I mixed them up in a hurry and was so tickled at how easily they came together. They’re everything the recipe promised. . .and more. 

I’ll tell you more about that  in a bit. For now, let’s look at the ingredients you’ll need. 

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bar Ingredients

FOR THE SOPAPILLAS

• crescent rolls 
• room temperature cream cheese
• whole egg
• granulated sugar
• vanilla extract

FOR THE TOPPING

• melted butter
• granulated sugar
• cinnamon

You’ll also need a 9×13-inch pan (ungreased)

How to Make the Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

This one came together so easily! I’m tickled pink at the outcome, y’all.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a small bowl, combine cinnamon with 1/3 cup white sugar and stir well. Set aside. 

Melt your butter and set aside. 

Spread one can of crescent rolls across the bottom of the empty 9×13-inch baking dish. 

Make sure you pinch the openings together. You’re looking for a flat, singular surface here. 

In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer with whisk attachment), mix up your room temperature cream cheese, granulated sugar, egg, and vanilla. 

Make sure it’s light and creamy. 

Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the crescent roll dough. 

Use a rubber spatula or an offset spatula to spread that creamy cheesecake filling as evenly as you can. 

Now open the second can of dough. Add those crescent rolls on top of the cream cheese layer. Get them as level as you can. 

Pour melted butter on top of the crescent rolls and spread evenly. 

Sprinkle on the cinnamon-sugar mixture. (Trust me when I say that sprinkle of cinnamon sugar really makes a difference during the bake! Your house is going to smell amazing!0

Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

Remove and place on cooling rack. 

Once they are cooled, cut into 12 even pieces. 

Serve and enjoy! 

Leftovers should be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated, due to the cream cheese component. They should stay good for 2 – 3 days. 

What to Expect from this Recipe

First, let me just say how delighted I was with the ease of this recipe! It came together so smoothly. I don’t know why I was nervous, but I was! (Maybe because I was making them to take to my small group? Who knows!) 

I loved that the crescent rolls behaved themselves. I thought they might be finicky, but they weren’t. 

And the cream cheese mixture went on with no trouble at all. So did the rest of the ingredients. 

Now let the address the aroma. It smelled so heavenly in my house while these were baking that I felt like I was having church. I’m not even kidding. These really did smell heavenly. 

Heaven. . .in a Sopapilla!

And boy, oh boy. . .when I opened that oven door to pull these out? Well, let’s just say my diet almost went straight out of the window! It smelled like I’d ventured into a Cinnabon store by mistake! That buttery cinnamon sugar topping was calling my name and I couldn’t wait to answer!

Mostly, I was blown away from the textures and flavors. I honestly didn’t know what to expect.

They’re creamy, they’re loaded with that punch of cinnamon, along with the sweetness of the sugar on top of the bars. That cheesecake layer was almost cake-like. . .but with a creamier, softer texture.

You can blame that on the two packages of cream cheese. (Most of my bars call for one package. Now I see what I’ve been missing!)

And can we just talk for a minute about those crescent rolls? I’ve used them for a variety of recipes, including my Apple Pie Cobbler.

But this might be my new favorite way to incorporate them into an easy recipe. Talk about a delicious dessert! (It’s going on my “favorite desserts” list, for sure!)

Variations on this Sopapilla Bars Recipe

It’s kind of crazy, all you can do with a can of crescent roll dough. Wow! This recipe blew me away. But, you know me, folks. I’m already thinking of ways to add to this recipe. Here are a few fun ideas: 

Pecans. I love cinnamon and nuts together. I think they’re amazing, in fact! So, I might just do that next time, making them more cinnamon-roll like. 

Make these as Hot pockets. Fill individual crescent rolls with the cream cheese mixture, fold and pinch,  brush with melted butter and sprinkle a tiny bit of cinnamon sugar on top. Bake them (spread out) on a cookie sheet. 

Honey: This is obvious! Sopapillas wouldn’t be sopapillas without honey, after all! A drizzle of honey would take these over the top.

Crunchy Cinnamon Sugar: Want to up the crunch? Use brown sugar on top with the cinnamon. This would make the texture more churro-like, (similar to my churro cookies).

Other Cinnamon-Infused Treats from Out of the Box Baking

• Delicious Cinnamon Sugar Knots:
• Homemade Cinnamon Bread:
• Cinnamon Roll Poke Cake:
• Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake:
• Cake Mix Cinnamon Roll Pastries:
• Cinnamon Sugar Muffins
• Cinnamon Sugar Pound Cake from Scratch:

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Learn more about doctored cake mixes, the theme of this blog. 

For the master list of all doctored cake mix recipes on this site, visit Doctored Cake Mix Recipes, Master List. 

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That’s it for this post, friends! I hope you enjoyed this decadent dessert recipe. These delicious sopapilla cheesecake bars really take the cake!

If you make this recipe and love it, don’t forget to leave a review and a comment below. And while you’re at it, go ahead and pin some photos to your Pinterest boards!

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