Cheesecake Pops

This is a recipe I’ve had on my “to bake” list for quite some time now.  It started when my husband gave me the Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey cookbook by JIll O’ Connor for Valentine’s Day this year.  This cookbook is full of yummy looking desserts, but this one in particular caught my eye.  This recipe turned up again in my life as the Daring Bakers challenge for the month of April, but unfortunately I was not able to participate that month.  Since then, I’ve been looking for an excuse to make the cheesecake pops, preferably an event with plenty of people to eat the 40+ super-rich cheesecake pops I knew I’d wind up with.

I finally got around to making these for my friend’s 30th birthday party: a super fun evening filled with fajitas, margaritas, and roller skating!  We had the whole rink to ourselves, and there were costumes, races, games of Red Light Green Light, and limbo.  The Picky Apple won the men’s race, and he brought home a fabulous inflatable shark as his prize.  A fun time was had by all, and though there were plenty of wipeouts, nobody got seriously injured.  I had a bad wipeout in the skating rink bathroom, of all places.  Luckily, no one was around to point and laugh (and believe me, it was laugh worthy), but I still have a huge bruise on my elbow and a sore neck.

But back to the main attraction: the dessert!  For the cheesecake pops, I opted not to use the lollipop sticks, but if I make them again, I will definitely go the extra mile and use lollipop sticks and ribbon.  I also still need to perfect my technique because they look a little blobby.  I used Baker’s Dipping Chocolate in both milk and dark chocolate.  I love this stuff!  I used it previously for some chocolate dipped strawberries.  My toppings for the cheesecake balls included pecans, graham crackers, toffee bits, jumbo rainbow nonpareils, and mini rainbow nonpareils.  My favorite combo was dark chocolate with toffee, and The Picky Apple liked the milk chocolate with graham cracker, but they all turned out great!    I’ll be using the filling recipe again the next time I make a cheesecake- the texture and flavor was perfect!

Cheesecake Pops

from Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey by Jill O’Connor

Makes 30-40 pops

Ingredients:

• 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
• 30-40 8 inch lollipop sticks
• 1 pound semisweet flavored, milk chocolate flavored, or brightly colored confectionery coating

Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F.

In a large bowl, with an electric mixer set at low speed, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth.  Add the whole eggs and the egg youlks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition.  Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Lightly grease a 10 inch cake pan (NOT a springform pan).  Pour the cheesecake batter into the cake pan and place in a larger roasting pan.  Fill the roasting pan with 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 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 pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 to 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate coating.  Place half of the chocolate wafers in a microwave-safe bowls.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds.  Remove from the microwave and stir.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, microwave for 30-seconds intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely.  Hold the pop over the melted chocolate and shake off any excess.  Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set.  Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate wafers as needed.

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