Peach Coffee Cake and Cheesecake Pops

We were so excited for 4th of July weekend because our friends the Grabers and Jen were coming into town! In preparation for them coming, I made this peach coffee cake since peaches are in season and, um, I felt like making a cake for breakfast! I did make a few changes: I added about two medium diced peaches to the batter and sliced three peaches to top the batter. I also omitted the almond extract because we didn't have it. Believe it or not, I think that the cake itself could have used even more peaches and a little extra sweetness. It was still a huge hit and I think Natalie could have eaten half the cake by herself!

Arranging the peach slices and then sprinkling the crumb topping:


The finished product:


I LOVE using my springform pan for recipes like this because everything looks so much nicer when I can just pop it out of the mold and nothing gets crumbly and messed up.


On Friday night, while Adam and Ashley were seeing the Counting Crows at the Arch and after Natalie had gone to bed I got to work on the cheesecake pops I promised to take to a family BBQ on Sunday. I made these for my black & white birthday party and I think we had 0 leftover. They're so fun, cute, and easy to make.

I used a Trader Joe's cheesecake because that's a lot easier than making my own (although I love making cheesecakes - especially for my man). It's a pretty tasty and cheap store bought cheesecake.
1) I balled up the cheesecake, crust and all, and put the balls on waxed paper and back into the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up.

2) I then put lollipop sticks into each ball and put them back into the freezer for about 20 minutes.

3) I dipped half in white chocolate and half in dark chocolate. I stick them on a styrofoam board so they can sit upright.



They kept just fine in the freezer, covered up with a Target bag, for 2 days. I suspect they might make it longer, but we've never had the opportunity to leave leftovers just laying around :-)