cheescake pops on the right -I made alot of the desserts for this engagement party
Hi!
Its Shirley from HomeBaked.com , counting down the days till Shavuot . This holiday is definitely one of my personal favorites – so rich in tradition, spirituality, introspection, and of course, outstanding desserts.
Because we traditionally refrain from eating meat on the holiday of Shavuot, we are blessed with the rare opportunity to serve DAIRY desserts after the holiday meals. Being me, I usually plan my family’s Shavuot dessert menu from about three months in advance, as dairy dessert is an extremely exciting thing to me (and not something that I often get to do). This year, I plan to make an authentic mascarpone-filled tiramisu, a strawberry shortcake trifle (with real whipped cream!), a flaky blueberry tart a la mode, and perhaps some buttery, golden, lemon-glazed madeleines (a current obsession of mine – check out this recipe, they’re worth it http://melangerbaking.com/2009/06/23/lemon-glazed-madeleines/ ). I think you can tell I’m excited.
Anyway, I promised myself that I wouldn’t share yet another cheesecake recipe with you as a Shavuot dessert idea. I sometimes wonder if Shavuot could be Shavuot without that rich, sinful cheesecake staring out at you some point in the holiday. However, I am an enormous cheesecake fan, and I do believe that if you are going to indulge, it may as well be on Shavuot. Therefore, I decided to give you my favorite cheesecake recipe with a spin:
Cheesecake Pops !
These adorable little treats are pretty simple to make (in fact, I bet kids would have a blast dipping them in the melted chocolate and sprinkles), can be eaten with minimal guilt (considering you can stop at just one), and will certainly still pay a respectful homage to the traditional cheesecake that I am sure we would all like to let go of for a while.
While there are a bunch of steps involved in this recipe, do not get overwhelmed – each can be done in stages, and can be spread out across several days.
Cheesecake Pops
Recipe from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor
Makes 30–40 pops
5 8-oz packages cream cheese, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
boiling water as needed
thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 lb chocolate (semi-sweet, milk or white), finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(optional- used to thin out the chocolate)
assorted decorations: chopped nuts, colored sprinkles, toffee bits, mini chocolate chips (optional)
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees 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. 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.
So, enjoy your Shavuot, enjoy your cheesecake, be sure to post any questions or comments and I’ll be happy to answer.
All the best,
Shirley J
P.S. Don’t forget to check out HomeBaked.com for any dessert needs!
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that sounds so similar to her story, I hope you don’t mind that I linked to a clip of it above. Its about a man who took his children to 
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