Saturday, April 26, 2008

April Challenge - Cheesecake Pops




I love being a "Daring Baker"! I am getting to try something different and delicious each month. This month's challenge, cheesecake pops, involved baking the cheesecake in a hot water bath. My usual recipe, made with sweetened condensed milk, does not involve that particular step. The result was a very creamy, smooth cheesecake that wasn't too sweet. The next thing that was "different" was shaping the cheesecake into balls. I used an ice cream scoop, but it looked kind of rough and ragged. I recently read a recipe for a delicate dumpling that was shaped by placing the dough in a wine glass and rolling until shaped into a ball. (I can't find the recipe source but I'll add it when I find it.) So I grabbed some wine-type glasses, sprayed it with cooking spray and dropped a scoop of cheesecake into the glass and swirled. Perfect! After inserting the lollipop sticks and freezing, I dipped the pops in the melted candy chocolate and dipped them in crushed heath bars, mini-m&m's, and crushed graham crackers. I'm taking them to our church lunch tomorrow where I'm sure they will quickly disappear. (they were a hit!)






















Thanks Elle and Deborah for a fun challenge.