Sopapilla Cheesecake

La Cocina week five: soups. The grandmother class. Sancocho — the everything soup. Asopao — the soupy rice. Caldo gallego — the white-bean ham soup. I taught all three because they sound like three but they are one technique with three faces.

The class loved soup week. Soup is forgiving. You cannot really ruin soup. You can over-salt it but you can fix it with a peeled potato. You can under-cook a vegetable but you can let it sit. Mr. Patterson said, "Mrs. Carmen, soup is the food I was looking for my whole life." I said, "Mr. Patterson, you are a soup person. I am a stew person. Both are correct." Diana said, "I am a rice person." I said, "Diana, that is a real category."

I told the class about Mami's sopita — the small soup, the sick-day soup, the broth-with-pasta-and-a-piece-of-chicken soup that you make for someone who cannot eat anything else. I told them about how Mami had taught it to me when I had the flu in 1973. Sopita is in the curriculum. I made it for the class. Twenty-six bowls. The class went quiet. Diana cried into her bowl. She said, "Mrs. Carmen, this is — this is the soup." Mr. Patterson said, "Diana, are you okay?" Diana said, "I am okay. This is the soup my mother used to make." I said, "Diana, of course it is. There are only so many kinds of soup. The good ones travel."

Saturday I made arroz con dulce again. Three hours stirring. Mami had asked for it. She said, "Carmen, the arroz con dulce. The one for funerals. I want it." I said, "Mami, that is for funerals." She said, "Yes. Pre-funeral. Make it now while I can taste it." I made it. She ate four spoonfuls. She said, "Carmen, more cinnamon than last time. You overcorrected." I said, "Mami, yes." She said, "Write it down. Less cinnamon than this. More cinnamon than the time before. The middle." I wrote it in the notebook.

Sunday David called from Brooklyn. He said, "Ma, I am coming up next weekend." I said, "Mijo." He said, "Ma, I am going to start coming up every other weekend until something changes." I said, "Mijo, the restaurant." He said, "Ma, the restaurant has people. I have one mother. The math is the math." I did not argue. I cried for a few minutes in the kitchen and Eduardo came in and held me and asked nothing. Wepa.

After I wrote Mami’s cinnamon note in the notebook — less than this time, more than the last, find the middle — I thought about what it means to write something down before it is too late. The arroz con dulce is hers. But this sopapilla cheesecake is something I can teach, something the class can make, something David can bring home from Brooklyn when he comes. It has that same cinnamon warmth, that same “this is for someone I love” quality. You make it in a pan. You cut it in squares. You do not need a funeral for an excuse.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 12

Ingredients

2 cans (8 oz each) refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 packages (8 oz each) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Honey, for drizzling (optional but correct)

Instructions

Heat the oven. Preheat to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish with butter or nonstick spray.
Lay the first crust. Unroll one can of crescent roll dough and press it evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan, pinching the seams together so there are no gaps. It does not have to be perfect. Soup is forgiving; so is this.
Make the filling. Beat the softened cream cheese with 3/4 cup of the sugar and the vanilla extract until completely smooth — no lumps. Spread the filling evenly over the dough layer.
Add the top crust. Unroll the second can of crescent dough and lay it carefully over the cream cheese layer, stretching gently to cover edge to edge. Pinch any seams closed.
Finish with cinnamon butter. Pour the melted butter evenly over the top layer of dough. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and sprinkle it over the butter. This is the part you write down: find the middle. Not too much cinnamon. Not too little.
Bake. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the filling is set. The kitchen will smell like something important is happening.
Cool and cut. Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes before cutting into squares. Drizzle with honey if you like. Serve warm or at room temperature. Both are correct.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sopapilla Cheesecake — The Sweet You Make While There Is Still Time