Happy Cinco de Mayo! Sopapilla Cheesecake Balls!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I know for most, Cinco de Mayo is a day to eat a lot of Mexican food, drink a lot of Mexican beer and margaritas (yum!), but there's also more to this day. I won't make this blog a day long with the details, but HERE is the reason behind the holiday if you are interested! 

As for the Sopapilla Cheesecake Balls, those were part of an experiment I decided I would try on a whim. I wasn't sure if the sticks would bake in the cheesecake, if the frozen cheesecake balls would melt in a gooey mess, or what would happen. As it was, they did get a little messed up, but they ended up tasting great anyway! It's a GREAT way to eat just one and not go overboard with eating several slices of THIS sopapilla cheesecake recipe I tend to eat too much of... Unless you just grab another and eat it. And another... And another... ;) Let's just say that I dropped some off to my mom and she called me within a couple of minutes and her first words were, "THE BEST! Oh my goodness, these are so good!" They were also hubby and baby approved! 

Here is what you need: 

1 tube of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, the regular size, not the Big & Flaky

1 tub of Philadelphia Ready to Eat Cheesecake Filling

1/4 cup of butter, melted

1/4 cup of white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon, mixed

Here is what you do: 

I used a cookie scoop to make eight little balls of cheesecake. They weren't perfect balls, but it didn't matter- they were going to melt anyway. I put them on waxed paper, covered them with Press N' Seal and put them in the freezer overnight.

I could tell you you need a little bit of melted chocolate chips to put the sticks in the cheesecake balls, but that didn't end up working out. However, these are the steps I took so I will show you. 

After dipping the sticks in chocolate and pushing into the cheesecake ball, freeze for about 5 minutes and pull them back out to wrap. Now, again, here's where you may just want to skip this step, because IT DIDN'T WORK! ;) Unless you find a better way to keep the sticks in the cheesecake, skip this step. 

Push the triangle of the crescent dough through the stick (or simply wrap the frozen cheesecake ball) and trim off the excess. Make sure you wrap it completely closed. I wrapped them with the opening towards the bottom and pinched them closed. You may want to wrap them up like bundles instead. 

Dip and roll the bundles in the melted butter and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar blend over the top and on the sides. If you don't use a stick, you may just want to use a spoon to pour the butter over the bundles. 

This is where my experiment may have gone wrong though. You may need to wait until after the buttered bundles come out before rolling them in cinnamon sugar. Otherwise, you may have a little mess on your hands: 

WHOOPS! You can see where I took out the sticks and I did have to trim some burned sugar off the bottom edges of these, but they were still delicious!  So if I make these again, (hey, I STILL have an almost full tub of cheesecake left over!) I will wait to sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture after they are out of the oven. Drizzle with honey and ENJOY!

 They still taste great the next day, after refrigeration! Have a happy Cinco!