eASYbAKED

This rich and creamy cheesecake has bits of cinnamon roll baked inside.  Little pockets of cinnamon and sweet brown sugar make it into nearly every bite.  You will have a hard time stopping at just one piece!!!

When a craving hits I generally create a brand new recipe to satisfy my curiosity.  A craving hit me right in the middle of church last Sunday.  Right in the middle of a great sermon on Romans I suddenly thought~ “I wonder what cinnamon roll and cheesecake would taste like all together”.  I wondered if you could use refrigerated cinnamon rolls as a crust…I wondered if you could swirl a brown sugar/ cinnamon mixture into a cheesecake without getting tons of cracks…I wondered if the cinnamon cream cheese tubs would work…I also listened to the sermon.  I’m fairly good at multi-tasking

When I got home I decided two things:

1. I am taking a vacation to Peru in a few weeks and I cannot spend any extra money- so the ingredients needed to be already in my house.

2. I would google “cinnamon roll cheesecake” to see what others had done.

The googling resulted in a surprise.  Several blogs featured recipes and they were all the same recipe from the same source!  Every one of the blogs just ranted and raved about the amazing-ness of this recipe.

I looked the recipe up in Culinary Concoctions by Peabody and realized I already had all of the ingredients.

It was meant to be.

It is, as all the other blogs out there have said, AMAZING.  Unbelievably good.  Exactly what I was hoping for in a combination of cheesecake and cinnamon roll.

It is also a labor of love.  Regular cheesecakes take some time.  This is a regular cheesecake and a batch of cinnamon rolls…all together.  Set aside some time and several clean mixing bowls!!

Here’s how to make it:

INGREDIENTS:

Cinnamon Roll Batter:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• ¼ cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 egg
• ½  cup  milk
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cheesecake filling:

• 2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 eggs

Cinnamon Filling:

• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 3 tbsp cinnamon

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 tbsp butter, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• milk (if needed to thin frosting)

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Grease a 9-inch Springform pan.

Cinnamon Roll Batter:

• Using a mixer,  cream together the butter and sugar.
• Add egg, milk, and vanilla. Beat for about one minute, scraping down bowl.
• Add flour, baking powder, and salt to the creamed ingredients. Mix on low speed until throughly combined.

Cheesecake Filling:

• In a separate bowl, use a mixer to beat cream cheese and sugar for about 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating together scraping down the bowl after each addition.
• Add the vanilla and flour and beat for another minute.

Cinnamon Filling:

• In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Mix until thoroughly combined.

You have three individual parts to this cheesecake now.  The batter, the cheesecake and the filling.
Here is how to put them together:

• Spread half of the batter onto the bottom of the Springform pan. It will be sticky and thick so spray your hands with baking spray and press down. It will be a thin layer, but trust me it will rise up during baking.
• Pour all of the cheesecake batter on top of the cinnamon roll batter that is in the prepared pan.
• Drop spoonfuls of the cinnamon filling over the entire top of the cheesecake.
• Take the rest of the base batter and drop spoonfuls over the entire top of cheesecake. Once finished, take a knife to swirl the ingredients together.  I say swirl, but its really just a big yummy chunky mess– just kind of gently mix all the toppings together without digging into the bottom crust.

• Bake for about 50-55 minutes, cake will be puffy and lightly browned.
• Let it cool for 20 minutes at room temperature and then cover and move to fridge for at least 4 hours (or overnight).  
• Remove cake and let it warm up to room temperature just a bit. While you are waiting, make your cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• In a clean bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter together for about 2 minutes.
• Add remaining ingredients and beat until desired consistency is reached. If too thick, thin out with milk.
• Pipe over the top of chilled cheesecake and serve….so yummy!

My thoughts:  If you don’t mind a little extra prep time in the kitchen, this recipe is truly worth every bit of effort.  The best part?  Since it has cinnamon rolls in it you really CAN eat cheesecake for breakfast with no guilty conscience… and I can tell you that a piece of this with a cup of coffee really is a perfect way to start the day!!!!  Enjoy!!!  ~r

Is it cheesecake? Is it cinnamon roll?
It’s BOTH!!!!!

Other cinnamon inspired treats from Easybaked:  Just click on an image to get the recipe!