Sunday, April 27, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge: Cheesecake Pops

cheesecake pops

More than 1000 cheesecakes pops are landing on the food blog world today, because this is the Daring Bakers challenge for April! It is no secret that cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts, seeing that I have made quite a few varieties in the past. I would even stock up on cream cheese when they are going on sale in the grocery stores!

cheesecake pops

Instead of baking one big cheesecake, our hostesses Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell have chosen the Cheesecake pops from Jill O'Connor's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth as our April challenge. Readers, you will soon hear the resounding "YUM" from other fellow DBers that this is one delicious and fun challenge.

more cheesecake pops

The original recipe makes 30 to 40 pops, which would be great for party. But seeing that we won't have any party going on anytime soon, I have scaled the recipe down to 3/5. Most of them are brought to OCT lab, but I save some for snacking in the afternoon. I love that they are of the perfect size to nibble. It will still be less than the calories of 1 slice of cheesecake if I have eaten 2 cheesecake pops. And if I only eat one, that's practically no calories consumed. (yeah, right..)

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I have posted two recipes below; one is my scale-down version and one is the original. Remember to check out other fabulous cheesecake pops from my fellow Daring Bakers here. Thanks Deborah and Elle for the fun and delicious challenge. This recipe has both thumbs up from this cheesecake lover! xoxo.

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Cheesecake Pops
from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth by Jill O’Connor
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional



Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

more cheesecake pops


Mandy's 3/5 low fat version

3 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature (I used 2 blocks of Neufatchel and 1 block of original)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 egg yolks
1.5 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed

Proceed as mentioned in the recipe above.
Note: I bake the cheesecake in a 9x3 loaf pan for about 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of your oven, it may need shorter or longer time. Check your cheesecake after 25-30 minutes.

43 comments:

Gigi said...

Gorgeous pops! I love all the different coatings.

Manggy said...

"Mandy: Keeping Cream Cheese Importers Alive!!" :D Hee hee. They look so yummy, and yeah, no calories! Haha! I love the "groovy" theme of your pics too.

Ah, scaling down! My dwindling cash reserves is why I rewrite all recipes I'm interested in in grams, haha :)

Cakelaw said...

I'm with you - ne cheesecake pop is practically no calories at all ;) Fabulous looking cheesecake pops - great job!

Deborah said...

Your pops look wonderful! I'm so glad you enjoyed them. Great job on this challenge!

Gretchen Noelle said...

These look so fun! You did a great job!

Veron said...

what colorful pops! Great job!

Sarah said...

Your pops look perfect! Great job!

Amy J. said...

Wow! Great job! They look wonderful!

Anne said...

Honestly, I loved the outcome of this challenge...having it in small servings like this is a great idea :)

beautiful cheesecake pops! Anyone would be delighted to receive these :)

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I've always used the lower fat cream cheese and never noticed a loss in flavor.
Love your pop! This is really the perfect size. This maybe the way I do all cheesecake in future.

Nemmie said...

Such beautiful pops! I love your photography.

Anonymous said...

Your pops look great! Nice decorating ideas!!!

Casey said...

I love the colors on yours! They look great!

Mari said...

Your pops look fabulous! Well done!

Christine said...

Your cheesecake pops look fantastic!

Andrea Meyers said...

Wow, so much color! They look very festive! Nicely done!

Helene said...

They look adorable! Great job on this month challenge...as if you would do otherwise :)

Bakerella said...

What fun!!!!!!!!
I wish I had known about this challenge. Your cheesecake pops look great!

Deeba PAB said...

I thought yours would be prefect & they certainly are...absolutely perfect & very pretty! Love the colourful toppings & the one with the bite is precious!! Beautiful!!

Jerry said...

I see it as no calories! But that's bad for my waistline! Oh well, I can indulge!
Great job

Shandy said...

Your cheesecake balls are gorgeous and your pictures look like you enjoyed making them! I'm with you, bring me cheesecake in just about any flavor and I am there! Beautifully Done =D

Cakelaw said...

Great looking pops Mandy - save one for me please!

Brilynn said...

Very pretty! And they're great for snacking on right out of the freezer...

Unknown said...

Great job on this challenge! I was going to try a s'more flavored pop but didn't get to do the challenge this time. Glad you were able to enjoy it!

Stardust said...

Wow, I've never seen anything like that. I'm so tempted to try, but I can't find the mentioned ingredients. =(

I'll just oggle then. Drool...

Susan @ SGCC said...

These look beautiful, Mandy! They're so colorful and festive! Good work!

Pixie said...

I love the red sprinkled pops they really 'pop' out at you. :) they look fabulous!

Unknown said...

Your pops look very elegant, I particularly like the red and white candied ones.

RecipeGirl said...

Your pics make it look like a grand party is being had :) Very pretty!

... said...

Your balls look amazing.
Great work.

Iisha of
http://thefablifeofi2daj.blogspot.com/

~Amber~ said...

Adorable looking pops!! Great job.

Cookie baker Lynn said...

You did a great job on these. I love the bright sprinkles - they look like they're going to a party. Good call on the low fat variation. 2.5 lbs of cream cheese is a lot!

Anonymous said...

Great job! Love the assorted colors.

Suzana said...

Beautifully done! Those look lovely.

Barbara said...

Your pops look great!

Venus ~ Vi said...

Hi Mandy~

Such vivid colors! gorgeous work as usual!

Renee said...

Gorgeous, gourgeous. The colors are so vivid - they look yummy!

Sheltie Girl said...

You did a wonderful job on your pops! I love all the colors.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

creampuff said...

Gorgeous!

Dolores said...

Great job! I'm especially fond of your theories about a pop's caloric content. :) Surely the first one or two are negative calories, considering the effort expended to make them...

Anonymous said...

great !!!!! they look really great !!!
It was a funny challenge :)

Jacque said...

Ooooh, great pics! Your pops are cute as can be. Good idea scaling it down too, that's what I'm starting to do too. Easier on the pocketbook and the waistline, lol.

Anonymous said...

I thought it wouldn't be too hard to make these but had problems keeping the sticks in while dipping the chocolate, then they were so cold from freezing them the chocolate cracked.

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