Kids in the Kitchen Wednesday: Churro Cheesecake

It's been a hot minute since we've done a Kids in the Kitchen post! But our Test Kitchen kids are busy with scouting, soccer and school now, and it's harder to find bonding time in the kitchen. 

The Wisconsin Test Kitchen had parent teacher conferences last week, and it's a tradition for the school to prepare a dinner for the teachers; who teach a half day, and then meet with parents into the evening. For the past few years, we've volunteered to make a dessert for the meal. This year they were doing a Mexican themed dinner, so we decided to make a churro cheesecake. 

We didn't intend for this to be a kid friendly recipe, but it totally was! Now that Sawyer is getting older, it's fun to watch her kitchen capabilities improve.  She especially loved opening the tubes of crescent dough, and helping to roll them out. She was a HUGE help, since I was doubling the recipe and needed a second set of hands.

Churro Cheesecake
Recipe courtesy of: http://therecipecritic.com/2013/04/churro-cheesecake/

Ingredients
2 cans (oz. each) crescent dinner rolls
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar, divided
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using a hand mixer or a kitchenaid, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla, partially beaten egg, and ½ cup sugar until smooth.

Mix together the rest of the sugar (1/2 cup) and 2 tablespoons cinnamon. Set aside.
Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray and sprinkle ¼ cup (or half) of your cinnamon sugar mixture evenly into the bottom of the 9x13.

On a piece of parchment paper, roll out your crescent dinner roll dough into a big 9x13 square and press the seams together so the dough is completely sealed. 

Set the dough in the bottom of your 9x13 baking dish on top of the cinnamon sugar.

Spread the cheesecake evenly on top of your dough and unroll the other can of crescent dough and place on top also making sure that the seams are completely sealed.

Sprinkle the top with the remaining ¼ cup of cinnamon sugar mixture and bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

I of course needed to sneak a slice before sending it off for the teachers. I couldn't possibly send them subpar desserts, right? The cheesecake was so good, I wished I had made a pan for myself to devour. It was even delicious first thing in the morning with a cup of coffee. SO GOOD!!! This is the perfect dessert to make quickly before a potluck, or to feed a big group of people at a fiesta. It's easy to prepare and we guarantee your guests will love it.

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew