In April, a fabulous group known as the Daring Bakers took on a really fun challenge... making cheesecake pops! What you say? Cheesecake pops? Yes, they really are cheesecake on a stick and they are delicious! After looking at post after post on the Daring Baker's Blogroll of these yummy treats, I had to try my hand at them. Father's day seemed like the ideal time since my husband adores cheesecake.
I hope you enjoy the ride... Welcome to Adventures in Cheesecake Pops!
Mixing the batter.
The water bath... this wasn't as challenging as I thought it would be.
Slightly browned, but cooked perfectly in the middle. Cheesecake should reach and internal temperature of 160-165 degrees for the perfect, creamy consistency.
Scooping into the cheesecake was a little nerve wracking. My husband came into the kitchen around this time and asked what the heck I was doing to the cheesecake! I have to be honest, my cookie scoop idea didn't work out so hot. The cheesecake was too creamy. I took the advice of Jenny from the Picky Palate and used non-stick spray on my hands to make the cheesecake balls. I still had to wash my hands every few minutes or the cheesecake balls just stuck the cheesecake on my hands.
I started out making my cheesecake balls rather bite size but they gradually got larger as the process became more tedious.
Here are the finished cheesecake balls ready to get dipped in chocolate!
These are the topping I picked up at the store, but after a while I thought of a few more toppings: mini chocolate chips and crushed oreos. My favorite combination was the coconut and mini chocolate chips. Yummo!!
Dipping was the easy part... Just make sure your cheesecake pops are still frozen as you dip them. Mine started to get soft and fall apart in the chocolate. Doesn't it look delicious!!!
Dipping the cheesecake pops. I found that it is best to store them in the freezer and pull them about 20 minutes before you want to eat them. Otherwise they tend to just fall off of their sticks.
The Dads enjoying their cheesecake pops!
Cheesecake Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ 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
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
