Sopapilla is a sweet, fried pastry and a classic Mexican dessert. However, there is a modified recipe that combines the classic Sopapilla with the traditional cheesecake. This Sopapilla Cheesecake treat is super easy to make, requiring only pre-made croissant pastry, sugar, butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract and cinnamon. It is ridiculously yummy and a guaranteed dinner party pleaser.

 Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Method:

1.Grease a baking tray, preferably with butter.

2.Line the bottom of the baking tray with the pre-made croissant pastry, ensuring any gaps are sealed.

3.Whisk the cream cheese, adding sugar and vanilla to taste.

4.Pour the cream cheese filling over into the baking tray.

5.Top the filling with another layer of the pre-made croissant pastry, again, ensuring any gaps are sealed.

6.Pour melted butter over the top and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the butter.

7.Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 180° (fan assisted), until golden brown on top.

8.Best left in the fridge overnight and served the following day.

My family absolutely love this dessert and, over the last year, I have been playing around with some different flavours. Below I have outlined my favourite ways to put a twist on the classic Cheesecake Sopapilla Recipe.

Chopped Nuts

After lining your baking tray with the croissant pastry, sprinkle some chopped hazelnuts (or any other nut of your choice) onto the base. Then pour your cheesecake filling over the top of the nuts. This results in a lovely nutty base to the final Sopapilla Cheesecake bars.

Ground Almonds and Honey

Mix some ground almonds and honey in a bowl to make a paste. Spread this over the bottom layer of croissant pastry before pouring in your cheesecake filling. You could also add some Amaretto Liquor to the cheesecake filling. This is a sweet twist so you may want to cut back the amount of sugar you put in the mixture.

Double Cinnamon Sugar

My family’s favourite thing about Cheesecake Sopapilla Bars is the gorgeously gluttonous topping of cinnamon, sugar and butter. Therefore, I figured creating a twist that involved adding more cinnamon sugar could only end well – I was not wrong! Add some of the cinnamon sugar underneath the cheesecake filling (leaving out the melted butter here). Again, this is a sweet addition so you may want to lower the amount of sugar you add to the cheesecake filling.

A Layer of Chocolate

This twist adds a little more time to the recipe. Melt dark chocolate and pour onto the base layer of croissant pastry. Set this aside in the fridge for a few hours to allow the layer of chocolate to harden. Once it has gone hard, you can pour the cheesecake filling on top without causing them to mix. You could also add some Nutella to the cheesecake filling if you wanted a double chocolate Sopapilla Cheesecake Bar.