Cheesecake Tacos
Have you tried Cheesecake Tacos? They are a mini strawberry cheesecake taco you serve up for dessert! They have a crispy, crunchy graham cracker coated shell with a thick and creamy pipeable cheesecake filling and a strawberry glaze topping.
A must-make dessert for any night or occasion. Your kids and friends will go nuts for these!
Dessert Taco Ingredients
- Flour Tortilla Shells
- Graham Cracker Crumbs
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Sugar
- Cheesecake Pudding
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Powdered Sugar
- Vanilla
- Strawberries
- Strawberry Glaze
How To Make Strawberry Cheesecake Tacos
Start by preheating the oven and then work on the taco shells. Mix graham crackers and the sugar in a bowl and set aside.
Now using a cookie cutter you will make circles out of your tortillas. These will be the base to the shell. Poke a few holes in the tortillas with a fork. This will help prevent air bubbles.
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Brush each shell with butter.
Take the shell and gently press it in the graham cracker mixture. Flip it and coat the other side in graham crackers as well.
Take your cupcake pan upside down, and then place your tortilla in between the dips, to hold up.
Bake in the oven to help crisp up the shells. The edges will become golden brown.
In a bowl add you cream cheese, and mix until creamy. Add in the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Once mixed you will pipe the mixture into the cooled taco shells.
Mix up your strawberry glaze and spoon it on top! Serve immediately.
How long will these Cheesecake Tacos last
These cheesecake tacos are best served right away. If you don't want to eat them all right away, then you will want to store the shells separate from the filling. Then store the shells for 1-2 days on the counter.
The taco shells will go stale, so they are best fresh. I recommend making only what you plan to eat that day.
Do I have to use pudding mix?
You can leave out the pudding mix, but the powdered sugar amount may need to be adjusted.
If you don't have the cheesecake-flavored pudding, that is okay. You can use any pudding flavor to substitute. The pudding will help to give the cheesecake mixture a thicker texture, which is what you want. '
What other toppings can be used?
There are endless toppings you can do for these cheesecake toppings. Let me share a handful of ideas for you to consider.
Here are a few of my favorites: pie fillings, crushed cookies, fruity pebbles, rainbow sprinkles, fresh fruit, hot fudge, caramel sauce, cut-up brownies, strawberry crunch, etc.
How to prevent air bubbles in my taco shells
The trick to making sure no air bubbles develop is taking your fork and puncturing the tortilla shell. This will help no air bubbles to develop.
If you do get an air bubble or two, puncture with a fork or knife before the shell cools down from being removed from the oven. They become crispy quite quickly after coming out of the oven so be quick about it. These wonton taco shells would be a great substitute if you continue to have issues with the air bubbles.
Special Tools
I used the back side of a muffin tin, it helps the flour shells to create that perfect shell. Now, you can buy a taco shell holder as well if you want.
You'll also want a round cookie cutter that's about 3 ¾ inches in diameter. Mine came in a set similar to the ones I linked to. Make sure you also have a pastry brush or basting brush to coat the shells evenly in butter.
I also recommend buying a Wilton 1M piping tip so you can get the filling into the shells easily. If you don't own any, use a sealable gallon bag that you cut the tip off to use as a piping bag.
Need more mini desserts? Check out my Mini Banana Cream Pies, Mini Apple Pies, Baked Churros, German Chocolate Truffles, or these Mini Lemon Cheesecakes.
Cheesecake Tacos
Ingredients
Shells
- 7 9- inch tortilla shells
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup butter melted
Cheesecake
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 3 tablespoons cheesecake instant pudding mix
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
- ½ cup chopped strawberries
- ¾ cup strawberry glaze
Instructions
Shells
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Add the graham cracker crumbs and sugar to a shallow dish. Stir to combine.
- Using a 3 ¾ inch circle cookie cutter, cut out 3 circles per 9-inch tortilla shell.
- Using a fork, stab it 6 to 7 times on both sides to help prevent air bubbles.
- Using a brush, coat each 3 ¾ inch shell with melted butter.
- Place in the shallow dish of graham cracker crumbs and gently press down. Flip and repeat until the shell is coated in crumbs.
- Fold the shell in half and form a seam in the middle.
- Flip a cupcake pan upside down and stagger the shells between the cups.
- Place in the preheated oven and bake for 11 minutes until the edges are brown and stiff.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the cupcake pans. This will allow the taco shells to keep their shape once they've cooled completely.
Cheesecake
- Add the cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add in the pudding mix, ½ cup of the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Beat until incorporated.
- Add in the remaining heavy cream and beat until smooth and fluffy.
- Fill the piping bag that's been fitted with the Wilton 1M piping tip with the cheesecake filling.
- Pipe the cheesecake filling into the cooled taco shells. I like to start piping in the middle of the shell, pipe to one edge, back to the center, to the other edge of the taco, and back to the center in one continuous flow. Repeat with the remaining taco shells.
Topping
- Add the fresh chopped strawberries with the strawberry glaze to a bowl and stir to combine. *see notes
- Spoon the topping on the cheesecake tacos.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
(Nutrition facts are an estimate and not guaranteed to be accurate. Please see a registered dietitian for special diet advice.)
Can you make the filling the day before??
Yes! You can make the filling the day before. Just store it in an airtight container in the fridge. I recommend letting the filling sit for about an hour at room temperature before using so it gets soft again. This will make it a lot easier to use when you are filling the tacos.
I see nobody from the comments told you how they liked them. My whole family loved them. I actually followed the recipe step by step.
I did however made my own blueberrie/strawberry sauce.
What I did was put some chopped up strawberries and blueberries in a pan of a tiny bit of water and some sugar and let it boil for a while.
It was a look of work for me, because I hate making desserts. I was actually thinking, "I'll never make these again!"
Then I tried them! Oh how my mind has changed! Hahaha
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a neat special dessert for my family!
Would give it a higher rating, but the cheesecake filling was too runny. Think the amount of heavy cream is too much. Was bummed that it turned out this way.
Sorry to hear the recipe didn't work out for you! I'll definitely take a look at the amount of heavy cream and reassess.
400° was much too hot in my oven. The first batch were too brown. I changed the temp to 300°, and the second batch was much prettier.
I'm glad the lower temp helped you! Baking can definitely be an experiment!
These take an extreme amount of time to make and my first batch of shells burned- although I baked them according to directions, and shortened the time, but they still burned so had to remake them. May cutter was smaller so that might explain the burnt fort batch. I shortened the time some more for the second batch, but will lower the temperature if I ever make them again.
Correct my typos in previous review. Should state My not May and first not fort
Hi Cathie- Thanks for the response- I will check the baking time as well and hope that you do give the recipe a try again!
These look so good am anxious to try them. Street taco shells look like they would be perfect size eliminating need to cut down others. Have you tried them?
I have tried them! They are slightly larger and so after they're baked, the middle of the shell will be pinched together like the tacos in the photos but they'll be more open on either end. They'll work, but they will take more filling to appear full and won't look as uniform. I also think I had more issues with getting bubbles so make sure you prick them with a fork quite a bit around the edges to help prevent that.
Can you use raw home made flour tortilla then bake to create shell?
I haven't tested it, so I'm not sure. If you try it, I would love if you let us all know how they turned out!
I'm wondering if I can make the taco shells in advance? A day or two before if possible. If so, how do you recommend storing them?
They may soften up because of the butter on them. You can always give it a try and let us know! I would store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.
I followed the directions on baking shells and they all came out closed. Looked more like cannoli shells then tacos.
Strange! Did you bake them laying on the muffin tin edge and then let them cool completely before removing them from the tin? Definitely let them cool on the muffin tin so they harden in an open position.
Hi, I didn’t see if you use flour or corn tortillas. I assume flour tortillas?
Yes, flour tortillas.
Can you save any leftovers
You can save leftovers! I recommend saving any extra filling in an airtight container and placing it in the fridge. Keep the taco shells in a separate container at room temperature. Storing them separately will prevent the shells from getting soggy. Then, you can just assemble them when you are ready to eat!
Can you use vanilla instant pudding?
Yes! Vanilla pudding will work great!