Daring Bakers: Pop goes the cheesecake?

Every month, the Daring Baker's recipe provides me with a new challenge. I don't usually fret about whether or not I can actually make a recipe, though when sometimes is a worry, but I might fret about certain aspects of the recipe: will my gelatin bloom? will my dough rise?

Or in this case: will I have any cheesecake left to turn into pops or will I have to remake the entire recipe?

You see, I love cheesecake. I really do. No fancy sauces or toppings for me, I like plain cheesecake with a graham cracker crumb base.

So when Elle of Feeding my Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell presented us with our April Challenge, Cheesecake Pops from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor, I was both excited and nervous. Yippee, I get to make cheesecake ! Oh dear, I get to make cheesecake.

And they want me to what? Turn them into little popsicle like balls with chocolate and candy on them? What?

That was my first thought. My second was... OMG! How many packages of cream cheese? FIVE!!! I have never seen a recipe that used that many packages. And the author expects it to fit into a 9x9 pan? No way.

I have to say, I still seriously think that has to be a typo. I don't have a 9x9 pan, so I used a large corningware and it barely fit. Think I should have gone with my 9x13 and hoped for the best.

And speaking of typos... 35 minutes? Mine went more like 80 minutes. And I'm sure it could have gone at least 5 more but I did not want to over cook my cheesecake.

However after the worry came the fun part. I melted down a pound of Callebut milk chocolate candy chips, allowing me to skip the oil or shortening needed to make the chocolate have a nice snap to it, set out bowls of candy toppings, and called in the children.

Then I had a little fun myself with a cookie cutter.

I didn't want too many pops, and the recipe was supposed to make 30-40 2 oz pops, so I continued on with the ice cream theme. Sure looks like an ice cream sundae, doesn't it?

Ice cream sandwiches are a favorite thing of mine to make in the summer (we like chewy oatmeal raisin cookies with vanilla frozen yogurt), so how could I resist making a few "ice cream" sandwiches with the remaining cheesecake and chocolate? I personally did not eat one of these but I have it from a good authority (as in the person who ate the most of these) that these were Mmmmmmmm.

In the end, this challenge was fun, though a bit expensive in cream cheese and chocolate (and time consuming in baking, chilling, scooping, freezing, decorating, chilling). Thanks Elle and Deborah!

And in case you didn't know yet - the Daring Baker's have gone public with a brand spankin new website and forum! You have to be a Daring Baker to get into the private area where we discuss the challenge before it's reveal, however anyone is welcome to come join in the public forum, where baking questions are always welcome (as are answers!) Considering there are at least 900 of us now, that's a pretty large group of bakers to turn to if you need help or just want to share something amazing!

Finally, many, many thanks for Ivonne and Lis for their ongoing leadership of our "little" baking group, as well as for the great new place for us all to hang out and chat!

49 comments:

Shelby said...

Great ideas! Love the ice cream theme!

Deborah said...

I love your ice cream theme! How creative! Great job on this challenge!!!

Jerry said...

Love it! I love the litte ice creams!

creampuff said...

Oh, those are so adorable! I really love the ones that look like ice cream cones!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Love the ice cream cone shape! You did a great job!

Lis said...

How creative! I love the different ways you presented them and hot dang but I want cheesecake sammich cookies RIGHT NOW! :D

Hugs!
xoxo

jasmine said...

I like the idea of using cookie cutters. I've read a few accounts of problems with the recipe as written...glad I scaled it down to one brick!

j

BC said...

You are so creative! Your variations on the cheesecake look delicious.

glamah16 said...

The sandwich variation is my favorite! Way to go.

Half Baked said...

Your so creative! love the little cones!I thought the recipe had a typo too! Wow that was a lot of cream cheese!

Karen Baking Soda said...

Jenny, you just made my day! To my surprise I did like the cheesecake but I missed a little crunch with the balls, now you've presented the solution with the sammiches!
Very creative and fun!

Anonymous said...

LOL! I too have the graham cracker sandwiches in the fridge..it was a great way to use the leftovers.

amanda. said...

The ice cream cones are the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Veron said...

cute.cute.cute...You know Pop goes the cheesecake title occured to me. For me it's because of the Hugh grant song "Pop goes my heart" from the movie Music and Lyrics....was that song in your head too?

Anonymous said...

Really creative. The "ice cream" cones and sandwiches are brilliant.

Mama Mia said...

your cheesecake pops look wonderful! Love the ice cream shape! I just joined DB and will be starting with next months challenge! Im so excited!!!

Dagmar said...

I love the ice cream cones!

Bumblebutton said...

Loved the plates filled with sprinkles. Your pops looked great, but even more intriguing were the 'ice cream' sandwiches! Yum!

Andrea Meyers said...

OMG, those cheesecake sandwiches made my heart go a flutter! Great job on the challenge!

Megan said...

It sure does look like ice cream.
I have half a cheesecake in the fridge. I'm gonna try those sammys!

Unknown said...

Cheesecake sandwiches, I love that. I used a 9x9 pan and it was almost overflowing, and I also wished I had put it in a larger pan.

Zakia / Avenue Z Desserts said...

the sandwich version is genius!

Peabody said...

The ice cream ones are too cute.

Michele said...

Oh you're so creative! I love your different ideas that went with this! I used a 9 inch round pan... and didn't even get all of the batter in there. And mine also took much longer. I'm glad to hear others did, too!

So cute!
xoxo

Michele
A Big Cup of Tea

Mandy said...

good job on the challenge! I need to get the ice cream cookie cutter! :)

Anonymous said...

Those 'sandwiches' are a great idea! Nicely done.

Unknown said...

I LOVE the ice cream cut outs! So cute! How versitile this turned out to be. I didn't get to do this one but am glad to see so many successes!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

wow--look at all those awesome things you did with your cheesecake! looks great! i could not bring myself to make that full recipe...i used just one bar of cream cheese!

L Vanel said...

Very creative! It looks like you had lots of fun with this.

Tiffany @ Lattes And Life said...

Love how creative you got!! The Smore idea is great...I'll have to remember that!!

Big Boys Oven said...

so cutely done! you must ghad enjoy yourself!

Anne said...

Everything looks so beautiful! love the cheesecake sandwiches :)

CB said...

OHMYGOD. your ice cream cheesecake pops are freaking adorable! Great job!
Clara

Meeta K. Wolff said...

the sandwiches look fantastic jenny! i'd go for those anyday!

sunita said...

Great idea there...lovely pops :-)

Dolores said...

Your ice cream theme is brilliant. And I'm with you... I probably consumed at least a traditional serving of cheesecake in the "production" process.

maybelles mom said...

I love the sandwich ones and the ice cream cone ones.

Lunch Buckets said...

Ahhhh, the sundae :)

Sara said...

You were very creative! That's the reason I don't make cheesecake - so much cream cheese.

Jade Is Green! said...

Oh my goodness. Those little "icecream cones" are adorable!

Brilynn said...

Looks like you had a lot of fun with this challenge!

Kelly-Jane said...

Your ice cream (cheesecake) pops are so good! You looks like you had lots of fun with this challenge, well done.

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Even on a stick, several of my eaters thought they were ice cream. It seems only appropriate. The ice cream sandwich is cool and the 'ice cream cones'! I did have fun with this one and love the serving size.

Allison said...

I LOVE the sundae and sandwiches! They look soooo delicious! Fabulous. =)

Dharm said...

Oh yum! So many choices!! I love what you did with the ice cream theme! I had the same thought too - 5 packages?!! Way too many. But it was delicious and a lot of fun to do.

Anonymous said...

I did the same and put my pops back in the freezer to make them into ice cream pops! They were delicious weren't they?

PheMom said...

What an incredible job! I really love the s'mores-goes-cheesecake idea. I think I would rather have one of those than a pop.

Jaime said...

i love the ice cream pops!!! too cute!

Texana said...

OOoooo! Cheesecake sandwiches! What fun. Love the little "ice cream cones, too! Thanks for the good ideas!