Churro cheesecake bites are perfectly delectable finger-food-meets-dessert recipe! The best part is that you can have this recipe ready to serve in less than 30 minutes! It’s a great way to enjoy cheesecake anytime.
Cinnamon sugar-coated puffy pastry and cheesecake filling… yes please! These darling little cheesecake bites have to be one of my new favorite bite-sized desserts. Not only are they easy and quick to prepare, but they taste amazing! Although, being realistic, you can’t often combine flaky layers of pastry, cinnamon sugar, and cheesecake and have it be anything but absolutely fabulous. I can’t wait to show you how easy these are to make!
The Saga of the Puff Pastry
Buy puff pastry for this recipe. I love you, and I appreciate your excitement in considering making puff pastry. But here’s the thing… making puff pastry takes time and space! Let me tell you a story…
I really wanted to make this recipe. Churro cheesecake bites sound amazing, right? Well the TWO grocery stores I had to stop at in a week didn’t think the same thing. Neither had puff pastry in stock. That or I know we’re all on the same wavelength and y’all got there before I did. I see you.
Do you know the kind of crisis mode a food blogger goes into when they can’t find a common ingredient!? There might have been tears. I don’t remember as it was all a blur.
My ingredient-induced anxiety got to the point where I decided to MAKE PUFF PASTRY! 3 hours, a crazy ton of butter and flour later, I had puff pastry ready to go. I make these bites, I make my kids pigs in a blanket. The kids didn’t say a word. And I got flustered when rolling out my puff pastry for the bites that I smashed parts of it. They didn’t puff consistently. Tasted amazing though, so whatever. I figure I’ll try again the next day with the rest of the puff pastry I made.
Turns out, I had to go to Target for something you can’t use drive-up for, and found… puff pastry! I bought two. Do you know how easy it was to use this puff pastry? Thaw, cut, bake, fill. Keep things simple.
If you want the flavor of all-butter puff pastry (which is fabulous), hit up Trader Joe’s. They carry an all butter puff pastry at a great price. Another option is Dufour’s which can be purchased at some grocery stores. It’s pricier, but also all butter. For this particular recipe, honestly, any brand will work. We’re here for cinnamon sugar and cheesecake filling.
6 ingredient churro cheesecake bites…
Now that we’ve established that purchasing puff pastry is the way to go, let’s talk about the rest of the ingredients! In addition to the puff pastry, you’ll need 5 ingredients.
- puff pastry
- granulated sugar
- ground cinnamon
- cream cheese
- powdered sugar
- vanilla extract
When it comes to making a filled and coated dessert, this is a pretty short ingredient list! This recipe is really pretty simple, which is what I love about it.
You’ll use the granulated sugar and cinnamon to make a coating for the puff pastry bites. The rest of the ingredients go to make an easy cheesecake filling. You’ll pipe that filling into your puff pastry bites.
I’m giving you a recipe that will use just one of the sheets of puff pastry in your package. Packaged puff pastry comes in sets of 2. One sheet is plenty for a small to medium family as the only dessert. Or if it’s just one dessert on a dessert table. These churro cheesecake bites are best enjoyed fresh, so make just what you need for the best results.
Of course, if you’re preparing for a crowd, feel free to double the filling recipe and bake up 2 sheets! Or, you could double the filling and make churro cheesecake bites, plus some cheesecake strawberries. Boom. Darlings, we have so got it together right now.
Churro Cheesecake Bites
Churro cheesecake bites are perfectly delectable finger-food-meets-dessert recipe! The best part is that you can have this recipe ready to serve in less than 30 minutes! It's a great way to enjoy cheesecake anytime.
Ingredients
- 1 sheet store-bought puff pastry (about 8 ounces), thawed according to package instructions
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Cheesecake Filling:
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- On a lightly floured surface, cut your sheet of parchment paper into 16 equal portions. Arrange on your prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the squares for 18-22 minutes until puffed and light golden in color.
- While the puff pastry is baking, combine the granulated sugar and ground cinnamon in a bowl.
- When the puff pastry has finished baking, roll each piece in the cinnamon sugar while still warm. This may be done individually, or you can put several in the bowl and shake to coat. Set the puff pastry churro bites in a single layer while you make the cheesecake filling.
- In a clean mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese and powdered sugar until fluffy. Scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla extract.
- Place the cheesecake filling in a piping bag with a filling tip attached. This is the easiest method and provides more even distribution of the cheesecake filling per bite. A standard round tip will work too.
- By now, the puff pastry is cool enough to fill. Using your piping bag, insert the tip into the center of a layered edge of a puff pastry churro bite. Pipe in about 2 teaspoons worth of cheesecake filling and place your churro cheesecake bite on a serving tray. Repeat until all the puff pastry bites have been filled.
- Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
- To soften cream cheese in the microwave, remove the cream cheese from the packaging and place on a microwave-safe plate. Microwave on high for 12 seconds.
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