Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

2 cans (8 oz each) Pillsbury refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

(1/2 cup almond slivers & 1/2 cup coconut - my additions)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Unroll 1 can of dough.  Place it in the bottom of an ungreased 13x9x2 glass baking dish.  Stretch it to cover the bottom and firmly press perforations together to seal.  In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese and 1 cup of the sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.  Beat in vanilla.  Spread over dough in baking dish.  Unroll second can of dough and carefully place it on top of the cream cheese layer.  Pinch seams together.  Pour melted butter evenly over top.  Mix remaining 1/2 cup of sugar with cinnamon and sprinkle evenly over the butter.  (I mixed the butter, sugar and cinnamon together allowing the sugar to melt in the hot butter and then poured it evenly over the dough.)  Bake 30 minutes or until center is set.  Cool slightly, about 20 minutes.  Refrigerate for easy cutting.  Cover and refrigerate any remaining bars.

Comments:  As you can see I did what I always do - add ingredients and in this case I changed one of the steps.  After I spread my cream cheese over the 1st layer of dough I sprinkled it with almond slivers and unsweetened coconut.  When it was time to add the 2nd roll of dough I unrolled it onto a chopping board, pressed my seams together and then loosely rolled it up.  That made it easy to unroll over the top of the almonds and coconut.  Mixing the butter, sugar and cinnamon together gave me a very even mix and with it being liquid I was able to use the back of a spoon to spread it better.  Now was this dish good?  It has gluten so I wasn't able to eat it but my food testers all begged for more.  I thought about doing this same recipe with a pie filling on top of the cream cheese.  That should be great!

Coconut Cheesecake

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar
4 cups Ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup evaporated milk
2 tsp. coconut flavoring
5 eggs
1 jar coconut curd
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees if using a silver 9" springform pan or 325 if you're using a dark 9" springform pan.  Mix crumbs, butter and 3 Tbsp. sugar.  Press firmly onto bottom of pan.  Bake 10 minutes.

Beat ricotta cheese, 1 1/4 cups sugar and flour in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.  Add cream and coconut flavoring.  Mix well.  Add eggs 1 at a time mixing just until blended after each addition.  Pour over crust.  Bake 1hour and 20 minutes or until center is almost set.  Run knife or metal spatula around rim of pan to loosen cake.  Cool before removing rim of pan.  Carefully spread curd over top of cake and sprinkle with coconut.  Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight.  Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Comments:  The Ricotta gives this cheesecake more of a custard texture and a cheesecake texture.  It's not super sweet and the coconut gives it the perfect flavor.  You can change it around by using other flavors and toppings.  You can use vanilla and top with chocolate.  Use lemon flavoring and top with lemon curd.  Or just make it plain and serve with cherries or strawberries.  No matter what flavor you come up with, you'll love the texture and ease of making this cheesecake.