Daring Bakers: A few words about chocolate...

First, an apology for posting a couple days late. I won't list the excuses but I did get the baking done on time. Life is very full these days.
This month's daring baker challenge was to make chocolate covered cheesecake lollipops. Basically, you make some cheesecake, chill it well, scoop it into balls, freeze them and then dip them in chocolate. I was under a bit of time pressure since I had several big events going on this month but the recipe is fairly fast. It took less than ten minutes to get the cheesecake in the oven. It baked longer than the recipe specifies - other bakers also noted this. Another problem I had was with the instruction that the scoops should be two ounces, no larger than a walnut. A two ounce scoop is more like the size of a tennis ball. So I went with a 9/16 ounce scoop and wound up with golf ball size pops in the end.
The recipe gives the option of using couverture chocolate with shortening added. I'm not sure which of those two ingredients I abhor more. So of course I used neither. I used Baker's white chocolate and Ghirardelli semi-sweet and didn't add anything to the chocolate. I topped some of them with some grated semi sweet that I happened to have in the fridge. I didn't temper the chocolate because these pops were going to remain refrigerated which cuts down on bloom.
Couverture is a popular choice because it is much easier to work with than real chocolate. Real chocolate is a combination of cocoa solids and cocoa butter. The percentage of cocoa powder is often given on the packaging these days as chocolate lovers have become more sophisticated. A 70% dark chocolate is going to have a very deep chocolate flavor. The tricky part about working with chocolate is that the cocoa butter is made up of many types of naturally occurring fats from the cocoa bean. Tempering the chocolate is a process in which those fats are melted and smoothly combined so that when they set up again the structure is very consistent thus giving beautiful texture and shine. If you fail to temper chocolate and dipped, let's say, a chocolate truffle in it allowing it to sit at room temperature then it is very likely to have a dull finish, develop pale streaks from the cocoa butter separating away from the cocoa solids and fail to have a nice crisp bite when you eat it. You have probably unwrapped a piece of chocolate at some point and noticed white blotches or streaks. That is nothing  to worry about and happens when the chocolate melts a little in storage and sets up again but is a perfect of chocolate that has come out of being in temper. I do temper chocolate when I am going to make something covered with dark chocolate and held at room temperature. But if chocolate is going to be refrigerated it keeps that cocoa butter from moving so you don't get bloom and cold chocolate is hard so you will will get a crisp finish. I do temper white chocolate but with a little less stress because bloom on white chocolate doesn't show. And of course, if chocolate is going to be combined with other ingredients in a cake or filling or interior layer of a dessert or will be grated it is unnecessary to temper it first.
Add to the tempering problem the cost of chocolate and it's difficult consistency and it is clear why an alternative was developed in the form of couverture. Couverture is flavored (usually artificially flavored) vegetable fats. A few other ingredients are included such as paraffin to give it a waxy finish. It comes in a wide variety of colors and a more limited variety of flavors. It's cheap and easy to work with for those times that you want to coat a dessert with a smooth silky layer of sweet waxy shortening. That occasion hasn't happened in my life yet. If you want to try working with couverture it can be found at hobby stores like Michaels.
If you do decide to use chocolate, I don't personally recommend adding the shortening. Shortening does make chocolate easier to work with by making the melted chocolate thinner. But shortening doesn't melt at body temperature so it leaves a tell-tale coating in your mouth if it has set up. You don't notice the shortening as much in the crust of a hot apple pie (although I wouldn't use it there either) but why take a perfectly decent chocolate and ruin it? Instead, try it without the added shortening. Expect it to be a little thick. This recipe can be halved easily - use a smaller pan and make sure it doesn't over cook by checking the oven regularly. 

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.

Comments

[Deborah]

Your pops look lovely!

[Barbara]

Your pops look great!

[Sheltie Girl]

Your pops are beautiful!

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

[JennyBakes]

Great info on chocolate tempering, thanks. Your pops look great!

[Dolores]

Beautiful pops (even if they're a bit late) *and* a bonus chocolate lesson! Great job!