Cheesecake Pops

24 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 c. sugar
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
pinch salt
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp heavy cream

4" lollipop sticks

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 on low speed until smooth. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time. Then beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 9" cake pan (not springform), then pour the batter into the 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. The recipe says that the cheesecake should be done in 35 to 45 minutes, but mine took about 70 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, cut 2 oz. rounds of cheesecake release from the cutter onto parchment paper. Roll the cheesecake into circles then carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the toppings. I used melted milk chocolate to coat, white chocolate for drizzling, and lavender colored sugar (to match my paper liners) to finish. Dip the frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate. Shake off excess and roll in any additional toppings you desire. Refrigerate pops on a parchment lined cookie sheet for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

adapted from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor