cheesecake su bastoncino / cheesecake pops

The literal translation into Italian of cheesecake would be torta di formaggio. I decided to leave the original word in the title, because it indicates a specific dessert and I have seen it used by Italian food bloggers. Su bastoncino means on a stick. A gelato su bastoncino (or gelato su stecco, where stecco also means stick) is a Popsicle made with ice cream. If made with ice, it would be a ghiacciolo (literally, icicle). As it usually happens, this month's Daring Bakers' challenge was an adventure, compliments of hosts Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms.

I am not sure why I always manage to get into trouble when executing the challenge, but it happened once again. Recipes that generate a big output are a problem for me, because there is only two of us in the family, and it is not always easy to share the product of my efforts with many people. The additional challenge this month was that I don't like cheesecake made with cream cheese, because I don't like cream cheese. I remember when cream cheese became available in Italy: Philadelphia was the brand name and the same name became a generic term to refer to the product. My dislike for cream cheese dates back to my first encounter with it, a long time ago.

However, knowing that I would not be tasting the result of my efforts did not prevent me from devoting my energy into making it a success. Maybe that's the problem: I want to make it work and end up in trouble. Thanks to a note by the hosts, I was able to comfortably half the dose. Making the New York style (don't ask me what it means¹) cheesecake was easy. I baked it for close to an hour, and it came out pretty nice. So far, so good. 

When I asked my husband to please go to the hardware store and get me some lollipop sticks he thought I was joking. I wasn't. The recipe clearly states to use those, instead of Popsicle sticks, because the cheesecake pops are small. And what made me think they would have such a thing at the hardware store? He countered. They do have a lot of kitchen items, so they may have bastoncini per lecca-lecca (lollipop, literally lick-lick) He was not convinced. I told him I took full responsibility for sending him on such an esoteric errand and he left. He came back with a package of lollipop sticks complete with individual plastic wrappers and twist ties. I felt one step closer to success. I didn't realize the real challenge was still ahead.

Shaping the pops was messy, to put it mildly. It didn't help that the smell of cheesecake, after a short while, was overwhelming for my olfactory cells. I completed this step, but my creativity was not at its best. The fact that, in general, I am not good at working on the details of food presentation certainly did not help. One positive thing was that I made 18 pops and there were exactly 18 sticks in the package my husband had got me, so I did not have any leftover cheesecake. Melting the chocolate and covering the pops was not difficult. I worked with a small quantity of dark chocolate at a time, did not use any shortening, and kept the additional messiness reasonably under control. The keyword here is 'reasonably': if you have a picture of a spotless stove and kitchen counter in your mind, hit Delete.

It was with understandable trepidation that I offered the chilled and chocolate-covered (ricoperti di cioccolato) cheesecake pops to my husband and a friend of ours as dessert. Was I prepared to witness the structural disaster? Good thing I did not try to offer the cheesecake pops at a party! Fortunately, both tasters had a plate at hand: it was needed to gather the falling pieces of the pop after the first fateful bite. My husband did not like his morsel. Our friend, though not enthusiastic about it, offered me a way out by suggesting some berry sauce to offset the cheesiness (here I am using cheesiness in its literal meaning).

I washed and hulled two cups of fresh fragole (strawberries), then pureed them in the food processor with a tablespoon of fine sugar and one of orange juice to make a pleasantly smelling sauce that I offered to our friend so he could try it over one of the remaining pops. At this point, I decided that the sticks could be dispensed with and each pop was demoted to regular piece of cheesecake on a plate. The salsa di fragole (strawberry sauce) was much appreciated and I have to say that the combination of colors (cheesecake yellow, strawberries red and chocolate brown) was rather eye-pleasing (sorry, no picture).

As usual, the challenge was a good learning experience, for which I am thankful to Deborah and Elle. The recipe we all followed, taken from "Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey" by Jill O’Connor, is available here. Make sure you use the Daring Bakers blogroll to guide you to look at the fabulous creations that were baked, shaped, dipped and decorated around the world by my fellow Daring Bakers scattered around the world.

¹ Special thanks to Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook, for kindly writing a comment explaining the New York style appellation.

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Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post: 

cheesecake su bastoncino

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Comments

[Susan]

I'm sorry these were not much to your liking but they look very cute. The addition of the strawberry sauce sounds delicious.

[Tartelette]

Bravo for giving it your best even though you don't like cream cheese. They did turn out super cute and the idea of strawberry sauce for dipping is brilliant!

[Marie]

Simona, I like your flower pot presentation, I think they look great. Brava to you for going through with it, when you don't even like the smell of cream cheese! I have to say, I'm partial to a ricotta cheesecake, how bout you?

[Burcu]

Simona, I must congratulate you on your adventure. I would chicken out as soon as I read the recipe. Btw, your cheesecake su bastancinos look really appealing to me!

ps: thanks to your post I know where the term we use for 'cane' in Turkish which is 'baston' comes from :)

[JennyBakes]

I love the dipping sauce idea, it really takes these over the top.

If you don't care for cream cheese, check out Alpineberry's blog for her cream cheese substitution using mascarpone!
http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2008/04/cheesecake-lollies.html

[Deborah]

You are truly daring to make this even though you don't like cream cheese! Wonderful job on this month's challenge!

[Simona Carini]

Thanks Susan and Tartelette.

I am with you Marie.

Hi Burcu. I should mention that bastoncino is diminutive of bastone, meaning stick or cane.

Thanks for the link, Jenny, I will check out what Mary did.

Thanks Deborah. It was fun, even if I did not eat what I made.

[Peter]

Don't move; you've been memed. Here is what you must do before you can resume nuisance-free blogging:

Link to the person who tagged you.

Post the rules of this meme on your blog. Then -- and this is the fun part -- write six random things about yourself in a blog post.

Then you get to inflict the same joy on six more people by asking them to do what I'm asking you to to, and link to them in your post.

Let each person know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

And thanks!

==============
Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://www.detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

[Lisa]

The wedge shapes are nice! I made a strawberry puree to eat with some of the leftovers tonight, the fresh fruit really cut the heaviness.

[Kevin]

I did not even think to look for the lollipop sticks at a hardware store. I like the strawberry sauce!

[Susan]

Valiant effort, Simona. NY-style cheesecake was made popular back in the early 1900's by Jewish delis; Lindy's still exists to this day. The cake's texture is characteristically ultra dense and rich, often with sour cream and whipping cream in addition to the cream cheese. I used to enjoy it, but now favor cakes that are light, soft and crumbly, chiefly the Italian ricotta cake with bits of candied citron.

[Simona]

Will do, Peter, though I have a post lined up that needs to beat a deadline, then I will write six random things about me.

Hi Lisa. It sounds like the berry complement idea was a winner.

Hi Kevin. It is a hardware store that has a good selection of kitchen items.

Thank you so much Susan for the information on the name. I agree with you about using ricotta and in fact I am planning to do it soon.

[lenny]

Ho letto qualcosa di questa iniziativa da elga di semi di papavero e la cosa mi ha incuriosito moltissimo: era la prima volta che ne sentivo parlare.
Deve essere stata una bella esperienza.
Bacioni

[lenny]

Stupenda la foto: rende ancora di più la sfiziosità di questa versione di un classico

[Dolores]

You managed to do a great job with a challenge that didn't appeal to you... *that* is the hallmark of a daring baker. I love your little cake-slice shaped pops.

[Ivonne]

Ciao Simona!

Sai stavo pensando, "How do you say lollipop stick in Italian" ... bastoncino!!!

Well done!

[Paz]

Wow! Great job!

Paz

[Simona]

Ciao Lenny. Daring Bakers e' interessante: ogni mese una ricetta diversa.

Thanks Dolores. I actually like that about the challenge: it makes you do things you would not do on your own.

Ciao Ivonne, grazie.

Thanks Paz!

[Lisa]

What a great story. Your poor husband (ha ha). At least his mission turned out to be a success. Personally, I love NY-style cheesecake, so I would have been an enthusiastic consumer of your pops! The berry sauce was a wonderful idea and sounds delish.

[Simona]

The interaction with my husband was really funny. I think the chocolate cover and the berry sauce were a nice complement to the cheesecake.