Easy cinnamon roll cheesecake bars with creamy cheesecake, cinnamon swirl filling, and a buttery graham cracker crust. The perfect cross between cinnamon rolls and cheesecake in an easy-to-serve bar form your guests will love.
For more easy, delicious bar desserts, check out my popular posts for Cream Cheese Lemon Bars, Salted Caramel Pecan Pie Bars, Sugar Cookie Bars, and Caramel Cookie Bars.
Why This Recipe Works
Two Desserts in One — Why make two desserts when you can have just one that combines the best of two awesome desserts: cinnamon rolls and cheesecake? Your life is about to change with this dessert. Eating is believing, so make these ASAP!
Sweet & Salty — One of my favorite flavor combinations is sweet and salty together. The salty graham cracker crust plus the rich and creamy cinnamon-roll-swirled cheesecake equals my own personal heaven.
So easy — These are a piece of cheesecake to make (get it?) and are so worth the less than 60 minutes they’ll take to make.
Unique — Looking for something different to take to all those pot lucks and bake sales? This is IT. No one else is bringing cinnamon roll cheesecake bars, I promise. Your dessert will be the talk of the town. I even grant you permission to keep this recipe a secret. I almost don’t want to share either!
Ingredients
- Graham crackers — You’ll use 12 “sheets” of graham crackers. I use the plain ones but you could use the cinnamon sugar ones if you REALLY love that cinnamon sugar flavor.
- Sugar — White sugar is what you’ll need in both the crust and the cheesecake.
- Butter — I use unsalted butter for both the crust and the filling. Be aware you’ll use melted for the crust and softened for the filling.
- Cinnamon — You’ll need cinnamon for the crust and the filling.
- Brown sugar — Be sure to use brown sugar for the cinnamon sugar filling to get that rich, delicious sweet taste. I use light brown sugar but you can also use dark brown.
- Vanilla — I’m a fan of real vanilla extract but you can use artificial too if that’s what you have.
- Flour — All-purpose baking flour is perfect for these cinnamon roll cheesecake bars.
- Cream cheese — Full-fat, regular cream cheese is the best in these bars. Leave it out to soften for about an hour before you’re ready to bake.
- Egg — The egg should be at room temperature before you add it to the cheesecake. Leave it out on the counter along with your cream cheese. See below for tricks to get eggs up to room temperature if you forget to get it out.
Here’s How You Make It
There are three steps to making these cheesecake bars but not to worry, they go really quick and are so easy.
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, line an 8×8 inch pan with foil and grease with cooking spray. (not pictured)
- Next, pulse the graham crackers in your food processor until fine crumbs form. Add the sugar and cinnamon to the graham crackers and pulse again to mix. Pour in the melted butter and pulse the food processor some more (about 30 seconds), until everything is mixed together. (photos 1-4)
- Use a spatula to remove the crust from the food processor and transfer it into the pan, then press the mixture evenly into the bottom. Bake the crust for 5 minutes. (photos 5-6)
- While the crust is baking, make the cinnamon roll filling by getting out a small saucepan and in it combine the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Cook these ingredients over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted and all ingredients are combined. Stir in the vanilla and flour last. (photos 7-8)
- In another large bowl, whisk together the egg and the sugar until it’s foamy. Add the cream cheese and vanilla, whisking or mixing until smooth. (photos 9-12)
- Pour the cheesecake mixture on top of the baked crust and drizzle the cinnamon roll filling over the cheesecake layer in any pattern you like, then use a toothpick to swirl the filling into the cheesecake layer. (photos 13-15)
- Put the bars into the oven to bake for another 20 minutes or until the cheesecake is set. Allow the bars to cool for 30 minutes, then put them in the fridge to cool completely. (photo 16)
- When they have cooled all the way down, you can cut and serve them — yum! (not pictured)
If you’ve forgotten to bring your eggs up to room temperature, don’t worry. There’s a quick fix for that. Simply put the egg in warm water for about 10 minutes. Notice I said warm. Do not make the water hot or you run the risk of cooking the egg.
You might be wondering why we should bring eggs to room temperature, soften butter, and soften cream cheese (the latter two ingredients soften because they are warming). The reason is that room temperature ingredients, like eggs, can trap air more efficiently, thus creating a lighter, fluffier texture.
The softened butter will mix more easily and disperse throughout the batter, while the softened cream cheese will also be easier to mix and incorporate into the batter.
Expert Tips & Tricks
- These cinnamon roll cheesecake bars will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.
- So easy to double — just bake in a 9 x 13 pan, and start checking for doneness after about 25 minutes.
- You can freeze these cheesecake bars for up to 3 months. I recommend wrapping the bars individually in wax paper before putting them into another airtight container. That way, you can simply remove and thaw only what you want.
More Dessert Recipes
- Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats
- Cinnamon Roll Ups
- Overnight Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole
- Cinnamon Roll Pound Cake
- Easy Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Cinnamon Roll Cheesecake Bars
Ingredients
Crust
- 12 graham cracker sheets
- ¼ cup sugar
- ½ cup butter - melted
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
Cinnamon Roll Filling
- ¼ cup butter
- ½ tablespoon cinnamon
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tablespoon flour
Cheesecake
- 16 ounces cream cheese - softened
- 1 egg - at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350, line an 8×8 inch pan with foil and grease with cooking spray.
- Pulse graham crackers in your food processor until fine crumbs form. Add sugar and cinnamon and pulse. Add melted butter and continue to pulse another 30 seconds. Press mixture into prepared pan. Bake 5 minutes.
- Prepare cinnamon roll filling. In a small sauce pan combine butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Cook over medium heat and stir until butter is melted and ingredients are combined. Stir in vanilla and flour.
Cheesecake
- In a large bowl whisk together egg and sugar until foamy. Add cream cheese and vanilla until smooth. Pour mixture on top of baked crust. Drizzle cinnamon roll filling over cheesecake layer in any pattern you desire and use a toothpick to swirl into cheesecake layer.
- Bake 20 minutes or until cheesecake is set. Allow to cool 30 minutes, then continue cooling in the fridge. When completely cooled, cut and serve. Store in airtight container in fridge.
Made these and the family agrees they are good. My only comment is on the prep order. Next time I make them I’ll do the cinnamon roll topping last. After I made it, it set up while I was doing the cheesecake so it was hard to ‘drizzle and swirl’. Of course I’m a novice so I may have done something wrong.
Thanks for your input, Mike!
My high school boy made these for his culinary class project. They tirned out amazing! Best bars weve ever made!
Yesss! How awesome!! So glad this recipe was a success for you guys 🙂
Made these tonight! My whole family loved it! Perfect blend of cheesecake and cinnabuns! Thank you!
So happy to hear how much you enjoyed this recipe!
Can I use 9×13 pan & temperature of oven and how long to bake. Please and Thank You.
Hi! What kind of brown sugar is best to use for these? Light, dark, golden? These look amazing and am making them tomorrow for the holidays!
I use light brown sugar.