Cheesecake Petite Pops & Truffles

I had the brilliant idea of trying something new and making Cheesecake Petite Pops the other day... I didn't even think about the fact that I have never even made a cheesecake before!

Being a new wife, and a new homeowner I am still in the collecting process of all necessary kitchen, cooking, and baking gadgets.  Needless to say I didn't have a springform pan nor a roasting pan big enough to hold my (only) 9 in round cake pan when baking my cheesecake.  Of course I figured this all out AFTER I had mixed all of the ingredients.  But have no fear, my neighbor Stephanie is here (cue super hero music)...

Thanks to my wonderful neighbor I was able to actually finish what I had started and properly bake my cheesecake.  Turned out pretty good for my first time!  Now it was time to mash up all my hard work and turn this delicious cheesecake into decadent morsels on a stick!

Cheesecake has a completely different texture than regular cake (duh!), or ground up cookies, or anything that I made Petite Pops out of before for that matter... so shaping them into balls turned out to be a bit difficult.  I scooped up some cheesecake, attempted to mold them into a ball like shape, drop them in graham cracker dust and then re-shaped them.  The graham cracker helped to make the cheesecake ball less sticky - meaning easier to shape!

I dipped the cheesecake balls into melted milk-chocolate, let them cool a bit, and then dipped them in the graham cracker dust!
 

After making 15 Cheesecake Petite Pops, I noticed I still had an entire cheesecake left from my recipe (don't ask me how I got two cheesecakes out of one recipe) so I decided to make Cheesecake Truffles as well.  This were a bit more difficult because of how delicate cheesecake is to begin with... Same process as before, just minus the stick!

 I think they turned out pretty good!

Mocha Espresso Petite Pops

There are few things in life that I could NOT live without: my Lord, my Husband, my puppy, family and friends, sports, and coffee!  My day doesn't really start until I have my morning coffee... whether that is at 5:30am or 12pm! I think my mother would have to admit that her addiction to coffee is just as bad!  Her love for coffee may be a little more obsessive than mine - and I conclude this from exhibit A: Her Personalized Gold Plated Starbucks Reward Card!

My mothers birthday was last week and I wanted to try something different for her personalized petite pops.  I decided to make Mocha Espresso Petite Pops - and I improvised every bit of it.

I started with a chocolate cake recipe and instead of using water I added already brewed coffee.  Once baked and cooled, I Mixed it with vanilla icing - to resemble "creamer" in coffee, and added instant Mocha Flavored Coffee to the mixture.  (Shout-out to Angie for saving me from another trip to the grocery store)!

I rolled the cake balls, dipped them in rich dark chocolate, and topped them with a coffee bean - for a little extra coffee kick!

The end result: A Rich Mocha Espresso Petite Pop that won't keep you up all night!