Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Cheesecake Pops

Five years ago my best friend and her husband moved to Florida.  I didn't want to see her move, but they were moving to be near their son and daughter in-law, and they were anticipating grandchildren in the future.  At that time, I already had one grandchild, so I totally understood. We stay in touch through email, phone, and texts.  Their parents and siblings are still here, so they do come back home from time to time.  And, occasionally I get to visit her.


When I get to visit her we love to spend time on the beach.  On one of my visits we stopped at a sandwich shop to eat lunch before heading out to the beach.  I had my first Cuban sandwich that day - and it was good!  But what I remember most was in dessert cooler. Cheesecake on a stick.  I love to make desserts, so I was very intrigued by these scrumptious looking creations.  I had to ask how they were made.  The proprietor said one day she baked a cheesecake and had forgotten to put a crust in the pan.  I don't know why she didn't just cut up the cheesecake and eat it crust free, but she said she decided to make something out of it.  She took the cheesecake and put it in a bowl and mixed it up with a mixer.  Then she used a small scoop to make dollops of cheesecakes.  She froze them and then dipped them in chocolate or white chocolate.  Yummy!!  



Ever since that visit I have wanted to make cheesecake pops.  Recently my daughter asked me to make something for a Style Night she was having at the salon where she works.  I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make these yummy treats.


This is more of a technique than a recipe.  I baked a cheesecake without a crust.  Put it in my Kitchenaid and mixed it up.  I used a small cookie scoop and made dollops of cheesecake on top of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  I took a small measuring spoon and made an indent in the top of each one.  I then filled the indent with different fillings.  I used raspberry jam, toasted coconut, crushed Heath bars, and chocolate ganache.  I put lollipop sticks in each one and then placed them in the freezer for one hour.  I melted 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to dip them in (I did the same with white chocolate chips).  When the "cheesecake pops" were frozen I dipped them in the chocolate.   You want to make sure when you cover them in chocolate to have the chocolate all around and touching the stick.  It will help make sure the stick doesn't come out of the cheesecake.   And only take a few out of the freezer at a time to prevent them from thawing before you get a chance to dip them - you don't want the sticks to come out.  After dipping, I sprinkled a little more of the same filling that was in the pop on top.  For the ones that had the ganache in them, I just drizzled some more of the dipping chocolate on top after they set up.




They are awesome, and they look so impressive!  


Have fun and enjoy!!!

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