- Quite possibly the most crazy-good, embarrassing, bad-for-you, crowd pleasing, yet actually VEGAN potluck dessert EVER. But no apologies!
- I dare you to make these and share them with your skeptical friends. They may convert to veganism on the spot just to convince you to make more...
- They do not resemble Mexican food, sopapillas OR cheesecake in any way, but that's what the 'original' recipe is called, so I'm sticking with the title. And it really doesn't matter what you call them, they are inhaled in about ten seconds flat. Before you even have a CHANCE to warn everyone away from the freaky vegan food - heehee! (I veganized the approximate recipe from a friend's version of NOT vegan, but still yummy, bars, she's not sure where it originated from either... thanks Julianna!!)
- Many of you know I'm not a fan of cinnamon, but I've made an exception here because these things are SO freakin'good, and they don't use a lot, you might add more if you're a fan...
Vegan Mexican 'Cheesecake' Sopapilla Bars
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp. good quality real vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. lemon juice
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 (8 ounce) packages Tofutti Better-than-cream-cheese
- 2 (8 ounce) cans refrigerated crescent rolls (yes, many varieties are actually vegan! Yes, they do have weird ingredients and yes, some trans fat and yes some artificial crap, so deal with it or go make granola bars!! Or use puff pastry for a slightly different texture but still yummy!!)
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature
- 1/4 cup honey, agave nectar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or fruit syrup
Preheat an oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly(!!) oil a 9x13 inch baking dish with canola oil.
Mix cornstarch into 1 cup sugar. Beat together the Tofutti cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar/cornstarch, vanilla extract and lemon juice, in a bowl, until smooth.
Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each piece into 9x13 inch rectangles. (Or use pc. of puff pastry)
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.
Stir together 3/4 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Dot the mixture over the top of the pastry.
Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 - 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey or syrup of choice.
Cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares.
