Cheescake Pops

I'm pretty sure that I joined the Daring Baker's to enjoy myself, so I can't figure out why I keep postponing the monthly challenge until the DAY ITS DUE! It's like being back in college again. And since I don't have Internet at my flat, I always have to submit my completed project a day late- which would SO not fly with my former college student self.

This month's challenge was a lot of fun once I got over the hurdle of actually baking... Other people left comments about how the 35-45 minute baking time was waaaay off and that they ended up having to freeze the pops to keep their shape since the cake never completely baked through. And with my ludicrously small freezer, I was having none of that- these suckers (har har) would be baked all the way through and would not need the aid of my mini freezer which can really only contain 2 small ice cube trays, a bag of frozen corn, a pint of Haagen Dazs or a mango (Look mom! a healthy alternative!) and my trusty bottle of Limoncello. Oh and when I'm lucky- a sleeve of Thin Mints sent from the States.

Part of cooking in a rented flat is learning to use what has been left behind- I've been left this purple bowl which is my mixing bowl, salad bowl, serving bowl and any other bowl that needs to hold more than 8 oz at one time.... As you can see from exhibit A, this bowl isn't curved at the bottom- so whenever I have to use an electric mixer, the sugar and flour is lost at the bottom. This was not the correct bowl to mix 5 packs of cream cheese with 5 eggs, flour, sugar and vanilla and expect a smooth batter. Regardless- Although I had some major doubt about how these would turn out considering the tools at my disposal, the pops turned out wonderfully and literally stopped my co-workers in their tracks when they saw me walking around the office with a Tupperware full.

So the easy version of this delicious recipe goes something like this:

Step 1: Mix up a cheesecake batter (with you cream cheese at room temperature....lets not forget that one)

exhibit A

Step 2: Bake the cheesecake in a 10 inch cake pan placed in a roasting pan filled with boiling water

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The remedy: Smaller receptacles and more time... I REFUSE to have uncooked cheesecake pops!

Step 4: Let it cool and then refrigerate

Step 5: Roll the chilled cheesecake into 2 inch balls and stick a lollipop stick into each one.

Step 6: Freeze em

it's truly miraculous

Step 7: Coat your frozen cheescake balls in some melted chocolate and any other goodies- In this case milk chocolate with coconut and white chocolate with sprinkles (or their better name her in the Uk: Hundreds and Thousands)

Step 8: Stick em back in the fridge to settle and enjoy