Personalized Pops

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. I recall my grandmother baking up a delicious cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, topped with cherry pie filling or blueberry filling. I never really liked the topping, so I always ate that first. What stood out in my mind was the creamy cheesecake and graham crust.

I have enjoyed making my own cheesecakes with chocolate, caramel, and even a triple citrus flavor. Cheesecakes are one of my favorite breakfast desserts.

This month, the Daring Bakers baked their own personalized version of cheesecake. Not only did they have our own variations on flavors and decorations but they were personal portions - on a stick! I still haven't decided if the personal portion makes them easier to have self control or easier to eat "just one more!"

I am incredibly impressed by the colors, flavors, decorations and even packaging of all the cheesecake pops I have seen already! I made one-fifth of the original recipe for cost and freezer space limitations. Mine are covered with a simple bittersweet chocolate coating and rolled in colored candy sprinkles. How would you personalized yours?

Cheesecake Pops
Adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey
by Jill O’Connor
Makes 10 pops

1 8-ounce package of cream cheese
heaping 1/3 cup of sugar
1 scant tablespoon of flour
pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 teaspoon of vanilla
1 scant tablespoon of heavy cream
100 grams of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tablespoon of shortening
straws & sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Set some water to boil.

2. 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 egg and the egg yolk, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

3. Pour the batter into 2 1-cup capacity ramekins, coated with cooking spray. Place the ramekins in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes. (With one fifth of the recipe, mine did take right about 35-40 minutes to bake.)

4. 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. (I refrigerated them for a couple of days.)

5. When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls (these were soft and sticky and very hard to shape!) and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a straw into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours. (Because of my freezer, this took about 24 hours.)

6. When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In a small saucepan, heat the chocolate and 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.

7. 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. Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set.

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

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Cheesecake Pops are being served up as the April Daring Bakers Challenge. The Cheesecake pops were chosen by this months hostesses, Deborah from Taste and Tell and Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms. Please visit the Daring Bakers Blogroll to see what other perfect cakes are being served up today!

Other Daring Baker Posts:
Dorie's Perfect Party Cake - March 2008
Julia Child’s French Bread – February 2008
Lime Meringue Pie Stars – January 2008
Christmas Yule Log – December 2007
Tender Potato Bread – November 2007