The other day, we showed you how to make pizza dough that would sit in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. We have thought a million times about how many varieties of pizza there are, and which ones would be appropriate for Great Lent. Well, we found one in the outstanding book Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois, which was the book that taught us the dough recipe originally. So, as we were reading through so many of the various pizzas and flatbreads in this book, we read ingredient lists and looked at pictures, we realized that so many pizza and flatbread options have cheese or dairy products on them. We wanted something animal-product free, and realised that we found the perfect choice in a dessert pizza. Okay, dessert pizza may not sound right, but this one absolutely was right!
When we think about dessert pizza, we may think of the ones made with flavoured cream cheese, or frozen fruits, or even chocolate on top. But, this was a healthier, lighter alternative to any of those. It had just a few ingredients that are often found in most homes. Of course, the trick is that you have to have the dough ready so you can make this dessert in 5 minutes (not including the baking time). And, after baking, you can enjoy a simple, healthy (OK, healthy-ish) light dessert that is hard to put down.
For this recipe, you will need the following:
2 apples
1/4 cup applesauce
2 TBSP raspberry or strawberry preserves
2-3 TBSP sugar for sprinkling
pizza dough (orange or grapefruit sized ball)
The directions are rather short. We will comment through to let you know what we found and thought while working on this. Remember, we had not made this flavour before today, so it was a learning experience for us, too. But, it was so well worth it!
We want to comment on the ingredients before starting. There are a few points that may make a difference in the end results. The apples we used are Fuji Apples. The pizza is called a "Blush" pizza because you want a red-skinned apple that has a little tartness to it. Fuji, Macintosh, Pink Lady, Ida Red, and the list goes on (click here to learn about apple varieties). You can pick which apples you like as long as they have a red skin (you do not peel the apples in this recipe) and they are a bit tart. If you use a green-skinned apple, then peel the apple before using. You do not peel the red skinned apples.
For the applesauce, we used the pre-measured cup that is often put in a lunch for school. It is a 4 ounce cup of strawberry applesauce. We used the strawberry flavoured one because it was the right colour to match the "blush" in the title. The recipe called for regular applesauce. This is what we had on hand. And, it was pre-measured for us -- which happened to be 1/2 cup, but we made two pizzas, so it seemed okay. It is the unsweetened applesauce. We do not know how much of a difference the sweetened applesauce would make in this recipe.
Also, we used pre-packaged jam (preserves). The same small packages are used in restaurants or hotels, we happen to have a couple and they were the right flavour (strawberry). Each one of those packages is 1 Tablespoon, so it worked out that we needed two packs, and that is exactly how many we had! You can use 2 Tablespoons of whatever strawberry, raspberry, or red preserves you have.
Now, let's start making pizza!
Preheat your oven to 350° F. The oven must be at temperature for the dough to cook properly. And, grease a cookie sheet. Use a vegetable oil pan spray or a little oil on a paper towel to cover the entire surface of the cookie sheet. We sprayed our pan.
Mix the applesauce and the preserves together. Make sure there are no lumps and the preserves are well distributed.
Cut the apples into very thin slices. You want to leave the skin on the apple as part of the presentation. Using a mandolin to slice the apples, or a food processor would be fast and make equally thin slices. We chose to try our hand at cutting. That meant we had to cut out the core of the apple. So, we cut the apple in half, and with our knife made an angular cut right next to the core of the apple. We cut in at an angle for 1/2 inch to make the cut end just behind the core. Then, on the other side of the core, we cut the same angular cut, and a triangular shaped core piece cam out of the apple. This was the easiest way to core the cut apple. Then, we were able to slice the apple very thin and have uniform looking slices. The authors of the book actually suggest using a mandolin to slice to get the uniform slices. But, we wanted to cut by hand.
Shape the dough into a circle or oblong shape, or even the shape of the cookie sheet. You can shape the dough by rolling it out with a rolling pin, or by pulling on it, working the centre and the edges evenly so there are not thick spots and thin spots. Shaping the dough is fun because you have a variety of choices of shapes, or you can choose to let the dough assume a shape that it would naturally after stretching it. Our dough sort of defined its own shape as you can see.
Lay the shaped dough (crust) on the prepared cookie sheet. It may shrink a bit and that's fine. Just make sure there are no holes in the dough. (we used a ball the size of our fist)
Spread the applesauce mixture on the dough, getting within one quarter of an inch (1/4 inch or 0.5 cm) away from the edges.
Lay the apple slices in one row all over the top of the pizza. We found that working in a semi-circle or circle pattern was easy, but you can choose whatever design suits you. Make sure that the apples are one layer thick.
Sprinkle the top of the pizza with sugar. Make sure to cover the apples, and get a little on the edge of the dough because it makes for a nice sweet crunch! You can decide how much sugar you add.
With the pizza on the cookie sheet, put the whole thing in the oven. The cookie sheet will act as your pizza stone, and you don't have to lift the pizza off the sheet. The bottom bakes through the pan, so it may take a few extra minutes, depending on the type of cookie sheet you have.
Bake this at 350° F (175º C) for 20 minutes. If, after 20 minutes you think it still needs baking time, then add 5 minutes, and continue adding in 5 minute increments until it is to your desired doneness. Check the bottom to make sure that it is cooked all the way in the middle, too. You will know if it is done by the colour of the sugar on top of the apple (starts to turn golden coloured) and the edges of the crust (they will also turn golden from any sugar caramelising there).
Here you have a nice, warm dessert. If we were not fasting, we may serve this with a bit of ice cream or yogurt. And, we thought about sprinkling some powdered sugar on top, but it was sweet enough. Someone suggested that we serve it warm with some sharp cheddar cheese, since the bread and the apple would really go well with the cheese. For us, we left it as it was -- simple and clean and Lenten. We enjoy our fruit desserts, and this one definitely will be made again!
"Now Jesus sat opposite the treasury and saw how the people put money into the treasury. And many who were rich put in much. Then one poor widow came and threw in two mites lepta (bronze coins) which make a quadrans. So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury; for they all put in out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all that she had, her whole livelihood."
Mark 12: 41-44
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