Daring Bakers - Cheesecake Pops

Oh dear! I did not have a good baking weekend. The less I say about my Cheesecake Pops the better. It's 5:25PM on April 27 so I don't have time to go back and try again. But I must put them up - want to get DB credit for April. Here's to May!
Cheesecake Pops Recipe

Makes 30-40 Pops

5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks (used 6-inch wooden skewers)

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped (used bitter sweet)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Assorted decorations (finely chopped pistachio nuts; chocolate sprinkles; ground shop-bought shortbread crumbs,can shredded sweet coconut;finely chopped crystallized ginger bits(obtainable from "King Arthur Flour").

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" cake pan (couldn't find mine so I used a 9" square cake 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, 35-45 minutes (mine took over an hour, probably because I used a smaller square pan - almost the same volume but the batter was denser). 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-oz round balls (I sliced mine into 2 oz. squares)and place on a parchment paper-lines baking sheet. Carefully insert a skewer into each cheesecake square. Freeze the cheese cake 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 its shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

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). Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-line baking sheet to set. Repeat with the remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.