Mini Sopapilla Cheesecake Recipe
I was researching choux pastry to see what other kinds of things could be done with it (it’s so fun and versatile if you’ve never tried it, start here with gougeres and then make churros) and I got stopped in my tracks when I spotted this recipe for choux au craquelin.
I was like, what? the hell?
Ne’er heard of it, but it sure looks good and crunchy! I’d also been mulling over a sopapilla cheesecake recipe … you know the one that’s everywhere … I think Pillsbury invented it … thinking how I could make a version that didn’t use crescent roll dough and didn’t have to cook forever. Mini-cheesecakes with some kind of crunchy cinnamon thing is what I needed.
Watch the Sopapilla Cheesecake Video on YouTube
Craquelin turned out to be the thing. It’s just three ingredients — butter, sugar, flour — rolled into “cookies” that you put on top of your choux pastry buns (in my case, on top of mini cheesecakes) and when it bakes, it turns crackly and crunchy like a streudel kind of. I added cinnamon to it because duh I need that.
Didn’t take long to figure out how to make a honey cheesecake batter and top it with some rounds of cinnamon craquelin. Joy! The craquelin is so perfect, y’all. It’s like topping your cheesecake with a crispy cinnamon sugar cookie so you get creamy honey cheesecake flavor with crunchy cinnamon toasty flavor creating the world’s most best sopapilla cheesecake. Sorry, Dough Boy. Game. Set. Match.
Homemade Sopapilla Cheesecake Recipe
Mini Sopapilla Cheesecakes
- Yield: 12 1x
Ingredients
- Cinnamon Craquelin:
- 1/4 cup soft butter
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup AP flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Cheesecakes:
- 12 Ritz crackers
- 2–8 ounce packages cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Garnish, opt: raspberries, more honey
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Mix in flour and cinnamon to make a stiff dough. Plop it onto some wax or parchment paper and roll out to about 1/8″ thick (3 mm). Transfer with paper onto a baking sheet and refrigerate while you make the cheesecakes.
- Set oven to 350ºF and line 12 muffin tins with paper cups and place a Ritz cracker in the bottom of each.
- Beat cream cheese until loosened up. Sift in cornstarch. Mix. Slowly beat in sugar until smooth and fluffy.
- Mix in eggs one at a time, followed by honey and vanilla.
- Pour about 1/4 cup of batter into each muffin tin, filling 3/4 full.
- Cut small circles (about 1″ dia) from the craquelin and place a round on top of each cheesecake.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly risen and barely browned on the edges. Cool 10 minutes in pan.
- Remove to rack and refrigerate until cold.
- Garnish just before serving with a raspberry and a drizzle of honey
You might also like Cranberry Mini Cheesecakes!
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Hey girl. Didn’t you have a one layer cranberry cake recipe years ago that had a splash of brandy? I absolutely loved it but can’t seem to find it. Perhaps it was included in a guest episode? Maybe I dreamed it. ????
Hi Linda! I did a video for this cranberry nut bread but I think you are thinking of a “cranberry pie” that I think I sent out in a newsletter a long time ago. When I get home I’ll see if I can find it and post it here.
That’s probably it. Thanks a bunch Hilah!
Okey doke! Here you go. I should probably make a real blog post about this someday 🙂
Fresh Cranberry Pie
Set oven to 325F and grease a pie pan.
2 cups fresh cranberries into the pan
Sprinkle with 1/2 c sugar + 1/2 c walnuts or pecans
Batter:
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 cup melted butter
Beat the sugar into the eggs, add flour and butter. Pour over cranberries. Bake 60 min.
There’s nothing in the original notes about adding booze but I really don’t think a tablespoon in the batter would hurt a bit!