Daring Bakers Challenge 4

Cheesecake Pops

(Makes 30 – 40 Pops )
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - 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.


Perfectly asymmetrical.

Freshly Baked

Doughnuts

And from the little holes I cut out from the centers of my doughnut rings...

Doughnut Holes

When life gives you poppy seeds...

...make these:
Poppy Seed Orange Bars



Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons softened butter
2 to 3 tablespoons orange juice
1/3 cup poppy seeds
grated orange zest (optional)

Directions: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees [F].
Comebine sugar, sourcream, 1/2 cup butter. Mix in flour, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and orange juice, and poppy seeds to the sugar mixture. Spread batter into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake for 17-22 minutes. Cool completely.
For the frosting, beat powdered sugar, 2 tbs. butter, and orange juice until you achieve a thick and creamy consistency. Spread over cooled bars. Sprinkle the top with orange zest for a citrus punch!


Poppy Seed Dinner Rolls
I made these for a casual dinner with friends, and they looked and tasted absolutely delicious. They were soft and flaky... just perfect.

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
2 envelopes of dry yeast
1/4 teaspoon plus 1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 large egg plus 1 egg beaten with 1 tabslepoon cold water (glaze)
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled
5 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chilled butter, cut into small pices
poppy seeds

Directions: Add yeast and 1/4 tsp. sugar to warm water and stir. Let it dissolve and stand about 8 minutes.
Whisk 1 egg, milk, salt, and remaining sugar into yeast mixture. Add melted butter and whisk until smooth. Mix in 1 cup of flour. Combine 4 cups of flour and chilled butter in a food processor and combine until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir.
Knead in bowl until it is smooth. Add more flour if it is too sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
When you're ready to bake, roll dough into 24 balls and place on greased baking sheets. Cover rolls with a damp kitchen towel and let them rise until they are doubled in size (1 hour).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees [F].
Brush egg glaze over the top of rolls and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake these for approximately 25 minutes, until they are golden brown.

(dont) get it twisted

Almond Pretzels (Mandelplattchen)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tesp. baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar plus more for garnish
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
chopped blanched almonds

Directions: Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup of sugar with softened butter until well blended. Beat in 2 eggs, 1 egg yolk, sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract.
Stir in the flour mixture. Divide the dough in half, shape into disks, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until form enough to handle, about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees [F]. Grease or line 2 cookie sheets. Working with 1 disk as a time, divide dough into pretzel shapes, and arrange about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.
Brush the pretzels with 1 beaten egg yolk. Sprinkle tops with almonds and sugar.
Bake 1 sheet at a time, until the edges are tinged with brown, 10-12 minutes. Let stand briefly, them remove to a rack to cool.

Just because

Meat & Vegetable Lasagna


Deep-fried Dumplings



watching people devour my food makes me feel super tingly in a good way :)