Lemon Cheesecake Pops

 Ingredients:
-2 8 oz Packs reduced fat cream cheese
-1 6oz container of Chobani Lemon Yogurt
-Zest of 1 Lemon
-1 tsp lemon extract
-2 eggs
-1/2 C sugar
-lollipop sticks
-vanilla candy coating

Mix up all of these ingredients really well in your mixer.  I baked mine at 375 in a glass dish for about 40 minutes, and my sides were really brown when I pulled it out.  I was pretty surprised because cheesecakes tend to take a bit longer than that, but I have also never made one in my oven.  So, with no crust on it and whatnot, maybe start checking it around or a little after 30 minutes, or start it out on 350 so that you don't have to worry about it browning.


You can also use this mix in a crust as a regular cheesecake, just note that you will want to use a water bath and typical cheesecake methods.  For pops, you don't need that color on them you just need them done and holding together, and sometimes slightly formable.

Is formable a word?  Is now.

Anyway pull the cooked cheesecake filling out of the oven and let it cool.  I put a fan on mine so that the heat would dissipate faster, and set it on a cooling rack. 

You can use a cookie scoop if you have one (I would suggest melon baller size instead of really large cookie scoop).  Of course, this is yet ANOTHER kitchen gadget that I do not own.  My birthday list is going to be entirely from a cookware department.  If you are like me and do not have one, I just cut most of my cheesecake into squares and formed the weird shaped edges into balls. 

You might consider just baking it in a square or rectangular size pan to begin with.  The only pan I had that was small enough (maybe an 8 or 9 inch) was a glass baking dish.  My rectangular ones would have made a very thin filling. 

Anyway, put the cubes or balls onto a cookie sheet and stick the lolipop sticks in them.  Freeze them for at least 45 minutes, and then working with a few at a time dip them in melted vanilla candy coating.  I found it easier to use a big spoon and pour the coating over them.  You may find that you need to add a couple tablespoons to your candy coating to get a nice thin coat on these, in which case just add it, give it a good mix, and reheat for another 5-10 seconds if necessary. 

As a general rule, you can pretty much always sub out 1 pack to half of the cream cheese in a cheesecake recipe for greek yogurt.  I have done a pumpkin cheesecake with honey Chobani that went over very well at a Thanksgiving feast, and have done lemon ones like these before.  By far Lemon Chobani packs the most flavor into a little cup, so I highly recommend it in lemon cheesecake ventures if you are looking to lighten one up a bit. 

All in all this made 24 pops.  With the reduced fat cream cheese and the no fat Chobani yogurt, one of these little buggers is not nearly as problematic to a diet.  And the bright lemon flavors just remind me how much I want to see spring...and not more snowflakes....

The NEXT cheesecake I make will be on a homemade graham crust.  We shall see how that turns out.

Happy crafting!