So fast you won’t believe it’s not store-bought, and so delicious you’ll be going back for more.
You need a last-second dessert and you have only half an hour. Think quickly - what do you make?
The answer is cheesecake.
No one thinks cheesecake is a quick dessert - but it can be, if you cheat a little. But only a little, because there are only so many corners you can cut on a dessert that is conventionally round.
This recipe will require an air fryer for maximum efficiency, but you can also bake on a rack if you only have your oven - or perhaps toaster oven; we are huge advocates of using a toaster oven when the weather is warm. Please don't heat up the whole house if you don't have to! It's a fight your air conditioner (and likely also your electric bill) will lose.
Ingredients:
4 large tortillas
1 8 ounce brick of cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 Tablespoons fruit preserves
cooking spray
cinnamon-sugar for dusting
Tools:
Air fryer (or oven and baking tray with a rack), measuring spoons, mixing bowl(s), spoons, whisk or hand mixer, plate, large ziploc plastic bag (optional)
Take your tortillas and your cream cheese and preserves out of the fridge. All three will be easier to work with if they're a little bit closer to room temperature.
Move your tortillas to a plate and fan them out a bit for easy grabbing later. Any whole wheat or white flour tortilla will do, but if you're shopping specifically for this recipe, we recommend Ole Xtreme Wellness high-fiber tortillas. They're soft, extra flexible, brown up nicely, and have a very mild flavor that won't fight with your cheesecake filling.
Scoop your cream cheese into the mixing bowl and break it into chunks - it will warm a little quicker if the air can circulate around smaller pieces.
Preheat your air fryer (if using one) or oven to 365 degrees. If you're warming up an air fryer, you can allow it to turn off after 5-7 minutes. It doesn't need to stay running the whole time like the oven will; the small area and convection fan in the fryer makes a huge difference. (Maybe you're one of the lucky ones whose oven has a convection fan! Did you know those require additional servicing?)
If your kitchen is plenty cool right now (lucky!) and your cream cheese is still very solid, you can pop it into the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften it up, provided your mixing bowl is microwave safe. Please do not microwave it any longer than that! Melted cream cheese does not work the same way in this recipe. You really don't want it to melt until it's actively baking.
Measure up your vanilla and sugar, and toss them in with your cream cheese. Use a whisk and all your wrist strength, or an electric hand mixer, to whip these two ingredients into the cream cheese. It should appear fluffy and light once thoroughly incorporated.
As far as preserves go, we used two spoons each of blackberry and strawberry preserves in our example photo. You can use whatever you have on hand, but we strongly recommend using a pair of complementary flavors... and avoiding grape! Grape is not your friend for this recipe, regardless of what you attempt to pair it with. Hopefully you have some raspberry or peach or strawberry preserves in your cabinet. We also really like the Smucker's Mosaics flavors for this - especially the cherry and blueberry. We didn't have the strawberry and blackberry on hand, but it's another available Mosaics flavor, specifically the one that inspired our flavor choice today. Additionally, if sugar is a concern, feel free to utilize a low- or no-sugar preserve instead.
Measure your four tablespoons of preserves into a dish and break up the big globs with a fork (it will make your life easier in a minute, trust us). You'll have fewer big pieces with homemade preserves, as they don't typically have as much pectin as the store bought ones. Either way, it's easier to just break it all down before it goes into the cream cheese blend.
Once you've got the preserves to the point they'll blend well, dump them into the mixing bowl with the cream cheese blend and swirl it together. Your goal here is a marbled look, not necessarily all one color. Congratulations, you've made cheesecake filling! Once you've swirled everything together, divide it up into quarters.
If you're working in a confined space, or if you're just super-messy like us, you might consider spooning your filling into a Ziploc bag and trimming a corner so you can simply squeeze to dispense the appropriate amount for each wrap. You can scoop it directly from the mixing bowl into the tortillas, but we always seem to drop some on the counter or on the floor when we do it that way, no matter how careful we are. The family dogs are usually thrilled, but the clean-up crew never is.
Whichever way you choose, transfer roughly 1/4 of your filling into each tortilla. Roll your tortillas like burritos so that all the sides are closed. Spritz the inside edge of the seam with cooking spray as you finish rolling, so that when heat is applied it will sear closed. Place them seam side down on your plate. Once all four have been rolled, spray the tops lightly with your cooking spray and dust gently with cinnamon sugar (or cinnamon mixed with sugar substitute).
Transfer each gently to your air fryer basket or your baking pan with a rack. Cook 10 minutes at 365, and remove them gently with tongs once the upper crust of the wraps has turned golden. The oven may take a little bit longer than ten minutes. If they still look pale and doughy when you go to remove them, let them cook another two minutes or so. Check frequently and trust yourself to see the difference in color once it happens. Regardless of how long it's in the fryer or oven, allow it to cool for a few minutes - that filling is HOT.
Serve warm, topped with whipped cream, dusted with powdered sugar, with a scoop of ice cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce, garnished with fresh berries... Whatever you like the best. We went with some frozen yogurt - because any dessert worth scorching yourself on is deserving of some frozen goodness to balance it out.
Let us know what you think about this delicious dessert over on our Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!
If you want another sweet treat to make, check out our double chocolate guinness cakes.