27 April 2008

Cheesecake Pops, Tiki-Style





It's Daring Baker time again! This month, we're making cheesecake. Cheesecake pops, that is: little chunks of cheesecake on a stick, dipped in chocolate and chilled. Yum! I will admit, a recipe with 5 blocks of cream cheese does make me hesitate for a second, but hey - it's only once a month that I indulge like this, right? Ahem.

We were given the opportunity to play around with this recipe, as long as we kept the cheesecake 'white'. I decided to get a bit tropical - for heavens sakes, when I made this it was freezing cold outside (and it is APRIL in KANSAS, it should be in the 70s). I thought some warm-thinking would maybe jump-start the weather around here.


Well, to me nothing screams 'warm and tropical' like tiki men and exotic flavors. Hence my theme! I made a pina colada cheesecake, using pineapple and coconut liqueur. I stacked my blocks of cheesecake on bamboo skewers (to get that true tiki statue feel), and dipped them in a coconut-spiked white chocolate. And the crowning touch: to decorate, I used yellow sparkling sprinkles and sugar-cast tiki masks.


Deborah and Elle hosted this month's challenge, and a big thanks to both ladies - the challenge was fun, and the cheesecake recipe is a keeper. The cheesecake is so smooth and creamy, so rich that the cheesecake is perfect for these little dipped bites.



Don't forget to check out the other cheesecake pops out there, compliments of my fellow Daring Bakers! We're hundreds strong, so I'm sure there are a lot of fun variations out there :)

Cheesecake Pops
(Recipe taken from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor)

Ingredients:
5 (8-oz.) packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 c. sugar
¼ c. all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ c. heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
30-40 (8-inch) lollipop sticks
1 lb. chocolate, finely chopped (whatever type you want for dipping)
2 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
Assorted decorations (sprinkles, sanding sugar, chopped nuts, etc.)

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 F. Set some water to boil.

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

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the 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 (*note: I baked mine for an hour, so keep in the oven longer if needed).

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 the cheesecake is 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 cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half 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. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

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. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.). Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

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

55 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love it! These looks as good as they are fun. The pineapple and coconut liquor are perfect with the tiki masks!

Deborah said...

I love the tiki-pops! Great job!

Rachel@fairycakeheaven said...

oooo these are so cute!!!

Sarah said...

Okay, one...those are adorable! I love the tiki faces! Two, the flavor combo sounds to die for! Great job!

Katie B. said...

Unbelieveably charming!! I love love love your tiki pops!!!

Rachel said...

Where did you get those tiki masks? Too cute!

Anonymous said...

Wow these are so creative. This makes me want to experiment more!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Adorable tiki men! Love your thought that the tropical pops would help bring about warm weather! They sound just delicious!

Cheryl said...

Heeheehee...I like the Tiki faces! : )

I saw these made (with a store-bought cheesecake) on Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee years ago, and I've always wanted to make them. Yours look great!

Anonymous said...

Tiki pops rock. And yes, I am going to rename my band "Tiki Pops Rock." I might even credit Cast Sugar.

Which is another great name for a band.

Good work.

RaoulD

Jerry said...

So cute! Got to love the Tiki Pops!

glamah16 said...

Your a genius! This was a great idea and Im sure the taste was amazing.

Anonymous said...

How fun! Those are very....umm...Daring! Great job.

Mandy said...

this is such a great idea! I love it!

Christine said...

Love the tiki-pops! Great job and wonderful idea!

Megan said...

Love the flavors! Love the tiki masks! Too cute.

Nemmie said...

Thanks for the wonderful comments everyone! This was such a fun challenge.

Rachel: I bought the tiki masks from fancyflours.com, you must go there and check out all their goods! I spend a lot of money there, I must admit :)

Rachel said...

Thanks for the tip! We love tiki!

Anita said...

I really love the theme you choose - they look so cute and tasty!

Myndie said...

WOW! Talk about creative! They look awesome and the flavors sound yummy.

L said...

OMG perfection. Love the faces.

Anonymous said...

You are a fun-luv'n genius! I hope your prayers to the sun gods worked. Your Pops certainly brightn my day & warmed mt heart.

xoxox Amy

Anonymous said...

Fantastic, so creative!! Love it.

Anonymous said...

This is one of the most creative presentations I've seen today. Just fabulous!

Helene said...

These are too cute! No let me re-phrase that: they are too cool!! Great job!

Carrie said...

AAAAHhhhhhh! These are just too dang cute!!!! You are GOOD! Thanks for the creativity! Warm weather has GOT to be on its way now!

Carrie
http://fieldsofcake.blogspot.com

BC said...

The tiki-pops are inspired and oh so cool.

Barbara Bakes said...

I think you win the award for most creative!

Anonymous said...

How creative!! So cute and great job!

Jaime said...

haha, those are adorable! love the idea :)

Melanie said...

Wow, how creative are you??? I love the pina colada idea and the tiki men are so perfect for that style of cheesecake. Awesome!

Jen Yu said...

OMG, those tiki masks are the BEST! How cool and creative. I love how you stacked them up to be proper tikis too :) Great job!

Anonymous said...

Tiki pops! Brilliant! These are SO cute! :)

Unknown said...

I love this idea, and the all white is really refreshing after seeing so many posts with the dark chocolate so far. The faces are so cute!

Veron said...

you are so creative! love your tiki theme.

Deeba PAB said...

Oooooooooh you had fun here. Love the tropical feel & the tiki masks. Novel indeed...your pops are GREAT! I love the creativity that's coming outta them!!

desie said...

fabulous! enjoy your little pops village.

Erika said...

Your tiki pops are so fun! It makes me want a pina colada! It is cold here in MA too, I am waiting for spring...

Dolores said...

I love your pina colada tropical tiki pops... great job! (It's 70 in California, and my guest bedroom is your guest bedroom :) ).

maybelles mom said...

OH, these are now my favorite cheesecake pops. HOW funny/cute.

Tracy said...

That really has to be the most original take I've seen. Very clever.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! So creative!

Jenny said...

Are you sure those are cheesecake pops on the sticks and not marshmallows? They look so adorable, those cute tiki masks!

Brilynn said...

Tiki masks... AWESOME!

Ginny said...

Haha! I love them! So creative!

KayKat said...

Those pops rock! You should just write a puppet show to go with them :)

L Vanel said...

I love your creative take on the challenge!

Ally said...

Those are so creative! I love it!

Sunshinemom said...

So innovative! Loved them:)

Lot-O-Choc said...

Mm wow these look great, I bet the pineapple and coconut was great in it :).

~Amber~ said...

What a great way to make the recipe your own. Awesome looking tiki pops.

Unknown said...

so cute!

Chou said...

:0 Okay, I've picked my mouth up off the floor and am now dancing around the room with happiness. Can a cheesecake get cuter?

Anonymous said...

Nemmie, I'm so glad you posted these. I'm going to make them for Mike's birthday party. I probably will just make plain ones, though, I'm sure your tropical pops were delicious... but I'm making them for Mike's Canadian themed birthday party... I'm thinking of calling them snow balls and dying a portion of them yellow and writing his name with them! :)

Anonymous said...

whaow !!!!!! how amazing !!!! You've done an incredible job !!!! what a good idea !
Congratulations :)