I wanted to find a "mexican" themed dessert to go w/cilantro chicken. I googled "mexican desserts" and several variations of sopapilla cheesecake appeared. I decided to give it a shot and I tried the recipe below last night for recipe club. It was so yummy and was so easy to make! I could have eaten half of the pan, but I decided my thighs would never forgive me.
It makes a whole 9x13 pan, so it can probably feed 12 people (or more)!
Cinnamon Sopapilla CheesecakeIngredients:
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 (8 ounce) cans crescent roll dough
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sliced almonds (I left these out)
1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape the each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. Press one piece into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough.
3. Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the cheesecake. Stir the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar together with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle over the cheesecake along with the almonds.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 45 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.
Recipe can be found here:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sopapilla-Cheesecake-Dessert/Detail.aspx