April has been a crazy month for me. I’ve been in Vancouver, Edmonton and New Orleans as well as carried a full workload of creative projects at work. As a result, I really didn’t feel like heading into the kitchen for the Daring Baker’s Challenge this time around.
Don’t get me wrong, I had nothing against the recipe or the group but I just didn’t feel like doing anything extra with my one free Saturday at home this month. But, since being part of a group occasionally requires effort and compromise, I pulled out my mixer, found my sprinkles and got baking. After all, the recipe for cheesecake pops, chosen by Elle and Deborah, is simple and well written by Jill O’Connor. (Regular readers will recognize Jill’s name as one of the authors I showcased in December during Book Week and this month’s DB recipe is from her book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey that I recommended in that post.)
So, I entered the kitchen feeling optimistic that things would go well. Unfortunately, when I unwrapped my room temperature cream cheese, one of the bricks was strange: curdy and sour smelling. Definitely not worthy of use. So, I tossed the bad brick into the compost bucket, got out my calculator and scaled the recipe down by 20%. To compensate for using a smaller volume of batter, I used a 9-inch (23-cm) cake pan (one of the same ones I used for last month’s challenge). I was a little worried that my math might not lead to a usable cheesecake but fortunately my calculations worked out and it all turned out well.
To compound my good luck, an hour after I finished making the lollies and was wondering what in the world I would do with them (we aren’t big on cheesecake at our house), the phone rang. It was a friend who I was able to persuade to come over the next day with her husband and sweet tooth daughter for a casual Sunday meal. My young friend loved the lollies so much that she took home the leftovers to share with her grandmother and asked for the recipe so that she can make them for her own birthday party. Perfecto!
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Excellent job! Your pops look beautiful!
They were fun though! Yours look great. 🙂
Too bad about the brick of cc, but this is a recipe that can be easily halved–or in my case slivered…
j
I’m so glad you found the time to make them – I know it can get hard some months! They look wonderful!
To bad about the cream cheese! Glad you were able to do this month’s! Great Job!
I’m glad you made time for this, they look lovely!
Yeah for making these and doing such a great job on them! I have loved giving them to my guests this weekend, what fun!
Thanks for your encouragement – after seeing some of the other pops out there I’m awed! what a creative, clever bunch we have assembled as Daring Bakers!
Your pops look delicious! It’s been more than two weeks since I made mine and seeing everyone’s today, I’m craving cheesecake!
LOL! I actually still have half a cheesecake in the freezer. I only made half of my cake into pops since we aren’t huge cheesecake fans and I have been trying not to be a 100% fatty four eyes. If you want to pop over I’ll pull out the cheesecake and a couple of forks.
Oh, how I wish I scaled down my recipe as I have eaten too many already. Your pops look cute and yummy! You also are a lot smarter than I was. Never heard of a 100% fatty four eyes, but I might be one after this challenge.
Pretty pops! I like that you scientifically calculated the formula!! I have lots o pops in my freezer.
I’m glad you had great luck! The pops look delicious!
Ouch, that is too bad about the cream cheese block. But good for you for figuring out how to convert the recipe. Cute pops! Glad you friend liked them!
Glad you made yourself do them. I’m sure that little girl loves ya for it 🙂
Hi Dana,
Thanks for stopping by- well done for carrying on after such a busy month- they look wonderful!
Oh yes, I have had those experiences too (hoarding food for a “special” occasion and discover I hoarded too long).
They turned out great, wonderful that your friend like them so much!
Actually, I had only bought the cream cheese that day! It all came from the same store at the same time. I guess I just lost the cheese lottery that day.
Thanks for all your posts DBers! I hope you will pop by again another day.
It looks like your effort paid off, they look great, and brought joy to your friend’s family as well!
I know what you mean about the precious weekends…that’s why I missed last month’s challenge. But you did great and your cheesecake pops look fantastic!
Dana, thank you so much for your lovely comment on my crazy Mr. and Mrs. Cheezypops! It traced me to yours. I love your site and I am going to subscribe to you right away!
Oh, your pops look adorable! Very accurately shaped. I just couldn’t get that nice “polish” on mine:))
Cheers from my kitchen to yours!
Farida
I only made 1/3 of the recipe, because 5 bricks of cheesecake is too much cheesecake!
I think exceptions can be made about you breaking the rules…I forgive you, at least. What was O’Connor’s reaction when you told her?
Happy you enjoyed the pops!
Phew! Glad I’m not going to get turfed for telling Jill! To say she was thrilled is an understatement.
Farida, I think you and I should start a mutual admiration society. : )
My mom taught us that we should always have dessert on hand for guests..unexpected or not. 🙂 Very nice post!
I totally understand about being overloaded and just wanting a break from it all. But they came out so cute!
glad everyone loved them–sounds like everything turned out well!
liked the ones topped with yellow sprinkles! I am just taking a nice 20 day break from work, from blogging….:)
I’m glad you decided to do the challenge. Sometimes I feel the same way. Your pops look great, though! That little girl must have been thrilled to get them!
Thanks for passing by… Your cheesecake pops look very pretty! Great job!
Cheers,
Rosa
They came out really well in the end 🙂
It was a huge yeilding recipe, thats for sure. They look great!
You have to wonder if this recipe started out as a catering or party recipe, don’t you?
Can you send me the recipe of cheesecake lollies? If you don’t mind my email add is rowena.guevarra@gmail.com. Thanks
RQL
Woot..you were meant to make them =) They look adorable, great job, I know the feeling, my only day Off I did mine hehe.. but in the end I was glad.. and many requests for the recipe. Though I would never have done the math right hehe..
So glad you made the comprimise because they look fantastic. We had people over the Sunday night too so we could unload a few on them. They recived a “takeaway” package aswell. I don’t think 2 people should really eat 40 balls of cheesecake. Eeek!
Nothing like having enthusiastic eaters Now I just need to get eaters for the left-over cheesecake that I still have. One of my daughters ate her way through the cupcakes, and she want’s to take a batch to work. I just need to make sure it’s a big batch.
Molly, where does your daughter work? Maybe I can send my cheesecakes there, too? Ugh. I’m feeling a bit gross today. We made a ricotta based cheesecake at work today for an upcoming recipe promotion and we’ll be making it again tomorrow since the recipe isn’t quite right yet. Then I still have my half DB cheesecake in the freezer. I may need to go to a fat farm for the whole summer if all this cheesecake doesn’t abate.
Jade, I’m glad you didn’t try to eat all of the lollies between just 2 people. There really can be too much of a good thing when it comes to cheesecake. ; )
Crazy schedule but you still managed to make them! Great job!!!
Aww that’s so cute about your friends’ daughter 🙂 This is the perfect recipe for kids, isn’t it?
I thought I could keep the buggers in my freezer.. you know, forget about them, but have them around in case company came over and I needed something quick and sweet.. yeah.. Mmmm hmmm.. no, that didn’t work. Lil bastages thaw pretty darned quickly – so quickly that it didn’t put me off that they were frozen. Gah.
The remaining 30 something pops went into work the next day with my husband.. he gave them to his partner.. thank gawd. ha!
xoxo
You did a wonderful job on your cheesecake pops!
Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
Your cheescake pops look amazing! These are next on my list of cake pops to make.
Wish you had given the recipe. Look great.
Those cake pops look huge!
will try make those cheese cake pops.i made a brownies pops my kids love it too…:)
This is a really good tip particularly to those fresh to the blogosphere. Brief but very precise info… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read post!