Lollipops for gourmets: David Burke’s cheesecake pops in Chocolate Tuxedo, Toffee Top Hat and Cherry Pink Cashmere.

Top Pops: David Burke’s Gourmet Cheesecake Lollipops   When award-winning chef and patron saint of New American cuisine David Burke gets an idea, you can be sure it’s going to go places. David, who is known for his offbeat and original food presentation, tells us the decidedly un-haute tale of how his Gourmet Pops came to be. He was stranded at home with the kids one day with nothing in the fridge except some smoked salmon and cream cheese plus a drawerful of lollipop sticks left over from another kids’ project. He puréed the two ingredients, rolled the  mixture  into balls and stuck each one on a lollipop stick. They were a miserable failure—the kids wouldn’t eat them—but aha! The idea for the gourmet pop was born.

And what a lucky thing that is for you! If you’re looking for a reason to have a party, Gourmet Pops are it. With their jaunty pop sticks and cheerful round profiles, they even look like a party.

Originally, the  selection included yummy hors d’oeuvres pops as well:

• Smoked Salmon Pops, the cream cheese base infused with a decidedly bold bolt of lemon, along with zingy capers and scallions, then rolled up in a blanket of puréed smoked salmon. Just add Prosecco or Champagne.
• Goat Cheese Pops, a can’t-stop-eating-them nibble that’s a true friend of any cocktail. Goat cheese is smoothed with creamy mascarpone and sundried tomatoes; then each pop is coated with toasted almonds and pistachio nuts.  

But the most popular incarnation turned out to be David’s Cheesecake Pops in three gotta-have-‘em flavors—Cherry Pink Cashmere, Three-Chocolate Tuxedo and Toffee Top Hat (shown in the photo above).

All three start out with a base of the creamiest cheesecake you’ve ever eaten dipped in an ever-so-light shell of white or dark chocolate. Then the fun begins.

• Cherry Pink Cashmere (half of the chocolate coating is tinted pink) is dipped in pistachio crunchies and sundried cherries.
• Three-Chocolate Tuxedo is dipped in white, milk and dark chocolate, then dipped in peanut crunchies and Reese’s Pieces.
• Toffee Top Hat has a milk chocolate coating dipped in dark chocolate crunchies and ground up Score candy bars.

Serve them as a trio, or add just one to accent another dessert, or as part of an assorted dessert plate. A sip of sherry or tawny port would make this a dessert experience that really pops!

Best of all, the pops come individually wrapped, nestled and perfectly frozen in plastic trays. All the “work” you have to do is to defrost them for about half an hour before serving.

So clear out some space in your freezer. You’re going to want a lot of these.

—Rowann Gilman

Updated June 2012

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