New Kids on the Blog had a bunch of hits….

How sad is it that I can only use that line once?........not only that but it totally dates me. Oh the memories……those were some good times eh? Anyway, onto the challenge! As this was my first challenge I spent a lot of time mentally preparing. I'm sure you all can relate to the anticipation as one waits for the email detailing our task. There was a little fear, a little anxiety and a lot of excitement. And then the day arrived……oh, as I read the email I could hardly contain myself and I got more excited as I read. Then I read the part about decorations and flavors and colors and I almost passed out. Me who has no imagination couldn't think past the recipe. I put off making the challenge as I thought out of sight out of mind would work well…..and when it didn't I started praying. And then it happened…"creativity started licking at my brain." Oh what a joyous thing that was. While it is not out of this world creativity, it is definitely out of MY world creativity.

I decided that since the recipe was large I wanted to make a couple flavors. Who doesn't love variety? I had a very hard time not eating the first step……I'm talking VERY. Doesn't it look fantastic!!!!

Once I started adding eggs it got a lot easier to not taste it. My tongue doesn't like raw egg taste........no matter how beautiful it looks. What a difference eggs make in consistency eh?

After everything was mixed I separated the batter into 4 parts and then flavored to my hearts content. On the left is the Chai flavored one…I added ¼ tsp of chai spice to the batter. The middle is Lemon and I added zest…for visual appeal and ¼ tsp of Lemon extract. The right one is cinnamon flavored….and yes I know it's not so white any more, but who knew cinnamon was such a strong color? I added ¼ tsp of cinnamon. YUMMY!!!! I didn't take a picture of the fourth one because it was just plain old cheesecake.

I did have a few problems. The time for cooking took longer than I had anticipated, and even though they cooked for an hour or more I don't think it was enough time. When it came time to make the balls it was not an easy task….after making a couple of them I realized it was not for me and I just free formed them. It was just too soft to roll into balls without ending up with half of it on my hands. The only other minor problem was trying to adhere toppings to the dipped pops. The chocolate and candy coatings dried so quickly I could barely get any stuff to stick. When it came down to it, the toppings didn't add a whole lot more to the treat and they were just as good in a simple dip.

After coming up with the flavors for the cheesecake I tried to do complimentary toppings. For lemon, I dipped them in white chocolate and then sprinkled shortbread crumbs on top. Everyone who tasted it, thought it was a perfect combination of flavor and cheesecake. It was pretty tasty. For the Chai, I dipped in chocolate and left it as is. I wanted the chai to be the main focus. Who doesn't love Chai?.......apparently everyone does as I have none left. For the cinnamon, I thought too grand in my design. I dipped in caramel and topped with graham cracker crumbs and dried apple. What a mistake. The caramel was too thick and the apple didn't adhere because the caramel solidified too fast. I barely got crumbs to stick. After it sat in the fridge for a while some caramel melted off (weird I know) and it was perfect. It was my favorite flavor combination. Everyone loved the flavor combination, but felt the caramel overshadowed the cheesecake. Understandable....All in all I'd say they were a success and they look great!

This is definitely a keeper of a recipe and I will definitely use it as many times as possible to impress everyone I know. Can't wait to see what's on the table for next month!.......or should I say "in the oven"?

-Amber