Daring Baking! Cheesecake Pops

For some strange reason, I wasnt very inspired by this challenge. I find them a lot easier when I have a destination for my desserts. What was I thinking?!!! Cheesecake and chocolate -HELLO!!! When I started making them, I could see how fun they were, and absolutely delicious! This is why it is really cool when I get to make the challenge twice, first time as the recipe and then the second, I can get creative!

They are the perfect little bite of indulgence and everyone at work loved them! I saved a few in the freezer for a little treat!

I made a couple of substitutions, I have a friend who is eating kosher for passover, so I made the recipe without the flour, took a little bit out in a ramekin and then added flour at the end. I also took care to find chocolate without soy lecithin. I cannot bring myself to use shortening, so I substituted with coconut oil, which seemed to work really well to smooth out the chocolate.

I baked in a larger pan than recommended, and I think that helped to set the cheesecake a little quicker, and used a cookie scoop to scoop up the cheesecake. They were a good size, any bigger and it would have been just too much, cheesecake and chocolate are very rich!



The latter picture is the kosher one, not quite as exiting but I was assured they were very tasty!









Recipe

1.5 lb cream cheese
9.5 oz sugar
1.25 oz AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1.2 tsp vanilla
1.25 oz heavy cream (easier to weigh)

Baked in a pyrex 8 x 8 dish and it took around 45 mins.
Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

12oz melted chocolate

1 tablespoon coconut oil

Sprinkles/nuts

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 an 8 x 8, 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. I. melted it in a double boiler with the coconut oil

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.

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

Elle – Feeding My Enthusiasms
Deborah – Taste and Tell