Sunday, April 27, 2008

April Daring Baker's Challenge

This month's challenge is Cheesecake Pops, and the hosts are Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell. My verdict on this month's challenge: Very fun to make, got to try out a few cool and new things, but I can't say I like the end product.

Firstly, I'm not a fan of cheesecakes [I can almost hear the gasp of horror of all readers]. They are wayy too rich for my taste, and I just don't like them. This recipe produced an extra creamy cheesecake, which of course means that I extra dislike them. But cream cheese is one of the most luscious ingredients to work with, and its a delight to bake with. Just the look of it feels sensuous =)


Secondly, its a frozen dessert, which means I can't bring it anywhere more than 5 mins away, which means that I'm stuck with a whole batch of cheesecake. Which I dislike. You can see the problem, even if my Mom and sis do like cheesecake better than I.

Now, on to the cool stuff. I have always had a kind of phobia for shortening, probably because they look like wax, but people tell me its actually food. Not to mention all that stuff about transfats, which is just scary. However, for this challenge, I did some research on shortening, and found that they now have transfats-free shortening! So I plucked up my courage and bought a whole packet of shortening, even if its not completely necessary and I only needed a tablespoon [I halved the recipe]. And it turned out to be fine. No weird oily taste, as some bakers worried about, though it did felt a little heavier than pure chocolate when I licked up the leftover dipping.

Then, my favorite part, the actual dipping! Because the cheesecake balls were frozen, the chocolate hardened over the pops immediately, which was amazing to see and oh so fun to play with. However, when I tried dipping with some room temperature oreos with the leftover chocolate, I found that the shortening really didn't help that much with the setting =(

I couldn't find lollipop sticks, so I bought lollipops and knocked off the sweets with a hammer. Very fun, did a lot of good for my stress level.

My cheesecake, fresh out of the oven. Good thing I used a disposable baking dish, would have been a nightmare to wash all the cheese off.


When I tried to make balls out of the frozen cheesecake with a melon scooper, the cheesecake clumped together and refused to scoop nicely; so I resorted to forming the balls with two spoons, which turned out to be rather fun as well.

The balls, nicely formed, with their lollipop sticks. Is it just me, or did anyone else noticed that the cheesecake doesn't freeze very well? It never got very firm, and stayed kinda soft, even when I left it overnight in the freezer.

The final product, sans wrapper. Looks darling, doesn't it?

Click here to check out how other daring bakers made their cheesecake pops!

26 comments:

Myndie said...

I love how gooey they look. Yes, dipping was the best part.

Anonymous said...

Yes, it is very darling. I rolled mine with my hands but was not able to make them as round as you got yours with the spoons.

Shelby said...

Your a sport for doing this challenge! Just think of it this way...you won't be tempted to eat them all yourself :) I'm sure if my family were there, they wouldn't have to leave your house!

Job well done!

Christine said...

I did gasp at someone not being a fan of cheesecake! However for not loving it your cheesecake pops look amazing and you won't be like me, eating them all! Fantastic job thumbs up to you!

Amy J. said...

Cute! What a good idea to wrap them - mine are just sitting in the pan in my fridge! LOL

Jeanine - The Baking Beauties said...

"Gasp!" from Canada! LOL! Not a lover of cheesecake...tsk, tsk, tsk. You did a fabulous job with this challenge dispite that, however, and I'm sure it won't be hard to find people to share them with. :) I didn't have to keep my pops frozen, and did transport them as well. However, staying in the fridge before eating them seemed necessary. Great job!

Sheltie Girl said...

Your cheesecake pops are delicious looking. I love the colored straws too.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Helene said...

Well, if you were any closer I'd take these off your hands :)
They look sensational!

Sunshinemom said...

Oh yes! I did not enjoy the baking but the decorting part was nice! Yours have come out well with spoons!

Mama Mia said...

I love how you wrapped them up all cute! I just joined DB and will be starting next month! yeay!

Half Baked said...

cute pops! the dipping was my favorite part too!

Bumblebutton said...

Yep--just darling. And yours is so lovely and ROUND! I could just dive into the batter photo. Yum.

Anonymous said...

Yours are perfectly round! Great job.

Astra Libris said...

Ooooh, your cheesecake pops are SO gorgeous - especially all packaged in their beautiful wrapping! Three cheese for your incredible artistry!

Deeba PAB said...

Absolutely darling end product & gorgeous! This was indeed a great fun challenge!! Cheers

maybelles mom said...

I love the dipped fingers look.

Bakerette said...

My father in law hates cheesecake and I always make it...I totally understand!! So nice that you made them anyway, they turned out perfect!

Antonio Tahhan said...

I LOVE how your pops came out! yes, cheesecake it rich and heavy, but I think that's why I love it so much. I like how you individually wrapped yours - very cool!

Liz said...

I really like your wrap! The pattern on the wrapping sets a festive tone with the ribbon.

Lunch Buckets said...

I can't believe you got them to look so nice using 2 spoons! Nice job on procuring sticks too :)

Tricia said...

i love all the variations of lollipop sticks i've seen. but i think i love your idea the best. i'm a fan of the hammer and food combo...

Anzj said...

I LOVE the part where you knock off the original sweets of some lollipop sickles. With a hammer, no less!! Someone should have taken a picture of that. Otherwise I totally agree with you on this recipe, but the pops turned out nice anyway.

Mrs Ergül said...

Amelia, that's very patient of you! To knock the lollies off the sticks! Good job too!

We both don't eat cheesecake hehe

mimi said...

well for a cheesecake hater, your pops sure did come out looking lovely!

Elle said...

Glad you had fun. Your finished pop looks so professional! Was hoping someone would resort to removing the candy from some sticks to re-use them...great idea! Sorry that you were stuck with a bunch of pops not to your taste, but glad you did the challenge!

Astra Libris said...

Thanks for the terrific suggestion about the ice cream sticks! I think you solved my cheesecake pop problem! :-)