Cookie Dessert Pizza

My nephews absolutely love chocolate. Leave them alone with a chocolate chip cookie for less than a minute . . . and all you'll find are a couple of crumbs. This recipe is PERFECT for kids as it looks exciting and colorful. Not only that, every kid I know would want to put toppings on his or her own dessert pizza! The best part about the below recipe is that you can add or omit the toppings as you please. For example, my recipe uses freshly whipped cream for the sauce, but just imagine if you decided to use Nutella instead. Drooling...well, let's get baking!

Ingredients:
For the cookie "crust":
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted but cool
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 and 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups chocolate chips

For the "sauce":
1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/4 powdered sugar
Alternative sauce options include, but are not limited to: Nutella, Cookie Butter, etc


For the "toppings":
1/4 cup toasted shredded coconut
1/2 cup M&M's
Alternative toppings include, but are not limited to: crushed oreos, chopped nuts, crushed graham crackers, Heath candy pieces, Reeses pieces

Instructions:

Feel free to be creative with this recipe! It is hard to go wrong with this!

1. Whisk butter, vanilla, egg, cooled melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until thoroughly mixed.

2. Add in baking soda and flour and mix. The dough will be hard (this is intentional as you are trying to get a "crust"). Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. Pat the dough down onto a foiled 12 inch pizza pan.

4. Bake the cookie at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cookie is a light golden brown. Do not overbake! The cookie should look like this:

5. Let the cookie cool.
6. Prep your whipping cream: combine the powdered sugar and heavy whipping cream. Whip the cream (I recommend using an electric hand mixer) until the cream doubles in size, is smooth, and forms soft peaks. This takes about 4 to 6 minutes.
7. Refrigerate the heavy whipping cream until you are ready to serve the dessert pizza (the rest of the steps are very fast). If you choose to do a different sauce like Nutella, there is no need to do this step.
8. Once ready, spread the heavy whipping cream over the cookie as if it were a sauce.
9. Sprinkle the toasted shredded coconut and the M&Ms over the top. Please do feel free to add or omit other toppings as you see fit.
10. Cut into wedges using a standard knife (no need to use a pizza cutter) and enjoy!

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Fluffy and Healthy Pizza Dough

This recipe is my go-to pizza dough as the cooked dough is soft and fluffy. I have used this recipe many times with a variety of different sauces and toppings. Enjoy!

PS: Photos were updated on June 8, 2018. 

Cooked Vegan, No Oil Pizza

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups warm water (not hot, about warm bathtub temperature)
 1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

Uncooked Vegetarian Pizza

Instructions:

Following these instructions exactly will provide the best results.

1. Add yeast to warm water and stir. Leave for 5 to 10 minutes until water becomes foamy. If the water does not foam up, your yeast may no longer be active or your water was too warm.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

3. Add in the foamy yeast water into the dry ingredients and knead until all the flour has been incorporated. Keep kneading for about 10 additional minutes.

4. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for an hour in a warm place (I usually place it into a cooled oven).

5. When the dough has doubled (or, sometimes even tripled), knead dough again for a few minutes with flour on your hands as the dough will be extra sticky. Form a large ball of dough. Place plastic wrap on the bowl again and let rise for another 30 minutes.

6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Press out dough onto a foiled pizza pan (or two, if you want thinner crusts). You may consider lightly greasing the pan to make sure the dough comes off nicely (but, I have done it without oil and it has turned out just fine with a bit of strategic fork use). Place your desired toppings on the pizza (fun vegan fact: nutritional yeast is a good substitute for cheese).

7. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes until the edges of the crust are golden brown. Bake longer if you chose to make a thick crust.

Uncooked Vegan, No Oil Pizza

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