The idea for this chocolate dessert pizza comes by way of a local restaurant chain called Pizzeria Limone. They offer something similar to this recipe named the Divino pizza. It is delicious in its own right (and so are a lot of their other offerings – try it if you’re ever in the Salt Lake City, Utah valley area). It’s a great way to end a meal and treat yourself.

I hadn’t ever considered making it myself until we had a pizza night at our house one day. There was a small amount of extra dough and our group was discussing what pizza type to make. I was generally thinking of pepperoni or our cheesy garlic bread pizza. But my sister (who loves the Divino pizza) suggested a small dessert pizza.

So I took what I had in the pantry and made it work. And it turned out to be a sumptuous sweet treat to end the meal. I decided right then and there that I needed to go all in and make my own version of a delicious chocolate caramel dessert pizza.

And it doesn’t have to take a lot of effort either. This is a delicious, easy-to-make, and fun dessert that is sure to impress everyone who eats it.

What Is A Dessert Pizza?

Put simply, a dessert pizza is some kind of flat base with sweet toppings. Basically, a pizza but with sweet instead of savory toppings.

A lot of dessert pizzas use different bases instead of your typical pizza dough. I’ve seen cookie, graham cracker, and pie crust bases used for the crust in dessert pizzas. But regular dough or sweet roll dough are also common.

To fully fulfill the dessert part of a dessert pizza, you’ve got to fully load it with sweet toppings. These can include sliced fruits, chocolate, caramel, cookies, marshmallows, candy, peanut butter, Nutella, icing, cinnamon, and so much more.

Anything with a sweet flair could be a candidate for addition atop a dessert pizza. If you’re looking to create your own version of a dessert pizza, just let your inner child free.

How to Make A Sweet Pizza From Scratch

To make this pizza from scratch, we’ll go through the whole process from start to finish. Starting with making the dough to pre-baking then topping and finishing the chocolate dessert pizza. If you really want to speed things up, just buy some dough or a crust from the store and skip straight to prebaking and topping.

Just know that it won’t be quite the same experience as making dough from scratch.

As noted above, dessert pizzas can have many different things as their crusts. I decided to go with a kind of sweet roll dough that you might find with a cinnamon roll. This makes a rather sticky and at times kinda hard to work with dough. But trust me, it is worth it.

Begin by activating the yeast with the sugars and warm water. This will get the yeast all excited and ready to be the leavening agent in the dough.

Mix in milk, olive oil, and salt. Then add in the flour and mix it up. I used my KitchenAid stand mixer to whip together this batch of dough and used the dough hook attachment specifically to help mix and knead the dough. I just let the mixer run for a few minutes after everything had fully combined to knead the dough.

But this can all also be done by hand. After activating the yeast, just mix everything together until the flour is fully combined. Then pour it out onto a clean surface with a bit of flour and get to kneading by hand. Do so for 5 to 8 minutes.

Preparing the Dough

With the dough kneaded, we’re ready to give it a rise. Add the dough to a lightly greased bowl, loosely cover it with a clean towel, and let it sit in a warm spot for about an hour until it has doubled in size.

Note that if you are lacking a warm spot in your kitchen like I was this winter, turn your oven on for a few minutes and then turn it off. You don’t want it to be hot, but letting the oven preheat for a very short time should get it warm enough to help the dough rise.

After the dough has had a chance to rise, it is time to divide it and start shaping our pizzas.

Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use a bench scraper or knife to cut the dough into two roughly equal portions.

Shape the two different portions into round balls by folding the edges away from you and pinching them together to create a sort of surface tension on the outside. Keep doing this and lightly rolling them in the palms of your hands until a smooth ball of dough forms.

Now begin shaping the crust for our chocolate dessert pizza by flattening the dough balls. With room to spread out, press down on the center of the dough ball to begin flattening it into a round crust. Then work outwards, pressing and shaping until you get a nice, thin crust.

We’ll be cooking one pizza at a time unless you have two pans and a decent amount of oven space.

Move one of the pizza crusts to a round pizza pan (I absolutely LOVE these pizza pans from Le Creuset) or a baking sheet. Put the pan into the oven and pre-bake the crust for 4 minutes. Especially since we will be working with a lot of sugar in this dessert pizza, we need to pre-bake the crust so that the crust will be fully cooked through and the toppings won’t burn.

Sugar will burn quickly at high heat, so it is very important to partially cook the crust before topping it. After 4 minutes, take the crust out.

Chocolate Dessert Pizza Toppings

After making the dough and pre-baking it, we’re ready to top our pizza with sweet goodness.

Remember that the recipe calls for toppings for two pizzas, so be sure to split the amounts in half for each pizza. To be honest, though, the amounts are mere suggestions. Just top each pizza with as much as feels right for you.

Though do note that pizzas tend to need fewer toppings than it seems. At least for my greedy eyes. Similar to over-filling my burritos, I just want to add all of the toppings onto a pizza. But it can be too excessive. Remember that things will melt and spread as they cook.

Start by placing down the white chocolate chunks, dark chocolate chunks, and mini marshmallows. Just try to get an even spread around the top of the pizza so that every bite is full of chocolatey sweet goodness.

Now, drizzle on the chocolate sauce and the caramel sauce. I usually have my sauces in plastic squeeze bottles for easy drizzling whenever I need it. But you could just as easily use a spoon to pick up some sauce and drizzle it out. Just be a bit careful with the spoon to not drop a ton of sauce in a single spot.

The only ingredient that won’t go on before baking is powdered sugar. This is just for sprinkling on top at the end and is mostly for a fancy look and isn’t really needed. It just gives it that nice extra flair. I put a little powdered sugar into a small mesh strainer and tap it while holding it over the chocolate pizza.

Where to Find Ingredients

Because this recipe is so focused on the toppings (especially the chocolate), I think it is very important to source some quality ingredients.

For the chocolate and caramel sauces, I suggest making your own. I recently made a post on how to make chocolate syrup in preparation for making this chocolate dessert pizza recipe. It is fast and easy. And a while ago I posted my salted caramel sauce recipe that I think works well here.

You could also buy store-bought dessert sauces.

For the chocolate chunks, I admittedly used some very fancy stuff. I used the same Callebaut Belgian white chocolate chunks from my white chocolate chunk cookies. I had leftovers so it seemed like a good use. The Valhrona dark chocolate I used is currently not available but I have also used this fancy Callebaut chocolate before.

You don’t need to use as fancy a chocolate. You could also use some decent-quality white and dark chocolate bars from the grocery store and just chop them up. Just keep in mind that chocolate is the central flavor of this recipe when buying ingredients.

Now that you’ve got all of the necessary ingredients, you can start preparing your dessert pizzas.

How to Cook Chocolate Dessert Pizza

Now comes the final bake of the pizza.

With the toppings perfectly spread out, put the pizza back into the oven at the same temperature. Bake it for 5 to 7 minutes until the dough has cooked through.

The mini marshmallows will puff up and brown, and the chocolate will begin to melt down (though they will roughly contain their shape and not fully puddle down). The edge of the crust should just start to become golden brown.

If anything starts to burn and/or smoke, then remove it from the oven immediately! Sugar is in high danger of getting too hot and burning. When it is finished baking, remove it from the oven and let it cool a little before slicing and serving. Repeat the process with the second pizza.

Remember the sugar will be very hot right out of the oven. Trust me, I’ve been burned.

For an especially delightful presentation, drizzle a bit of chocolate and caramel sauce onto a plate before serving a slice on it.

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this triple chocolate caramel dessert pizza! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Tempting Triple Chocolate Caramel Dessert Pizza

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: DessertDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

12

servings

Prep time

40

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Rise Time

1

hour 

Total time

1

hour 

50

minutes

For chocolate lovers, this triple chocolate caramel dessert pizza recipe is just what you need! A delicious, decadent, and tempting dessert that you’ll love. Note that this recipe makes two decently sized dessert pizzas.

Ingredients

• Sweet Pizza Dough

• 175 grams warm water (3/4 cup)

• 7 grams active dry yeast (1/2 tablespoon)

• 30 grams brown sugar (3 tablespoons)

• 50 grams honey (2 tablespoons)

• 70 grams milk (1/4 cup)

• 18 grams olive oil (1 tablespoon)

• 4 grams salt (1/2 teaspoon)

• 400 grams flour (2 and 2/3 cups)

• Dessert Pizza Topping

• 1 cup white chocolate chunks

• 1 cup dark chocolate chunks

• 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

• 4 tablespoons chocolate sauce

• 4 tablespoons caramel sauce

• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

• Sweet Pizza Dough
• Stir together the warm water, yeast, brown sugar, and honey in the bowl of the stand mixer if you will use that or in a regular mixing bowl if by hand until well combined
• Let the yeast mixture sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast has activated and the mixture has foamed up a bit
• Mix in the milk, olive oil, and salt
• Slowly add in the flour while mixing with the dough hook on a stand mixer or with a mixing spoon by hand – keep adding the flour and mixing until it is all used and fully combined
• Knead the dough in a stand mixer for 5 minutes, or by hand for 8 to 10 minutes
• Pour the dough out into a lightly greased bowl and let rise, covered with a towel in a warm place for about an hour until it roughly doubles in size – then the dough is ready for the next steps
• Dessert Pizza Topping
• Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C)
• Place the risen dough onto a work surface and use a bench scraper or knife to split it into two roughly equal portions
• Shape both dough portions into balls by pulling the edges towards each other, shaping and pinching them together, and smoothing out the dough into a ball by rolling them in your palms or on the work surface
• With each dough ball, form a flat circle by pressing down in the center of the ball and then slowly pressing down and working from the inside out to get a nice, flat crust
• Place the dough onto a pizza pan or baking sheet and pre-bake the crust for 4 minutes, then remove it from the oven
• Evenly top the pre-baked crust with half of the white chocolate chunks, dark chocolate chunks, and mini marshmallows, then drizzle half of the chocolate sauce and caramel sauce over the toppings
• Place the baking pan into the oven and bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the dough is cooked through and just begins turning golden brown on the edges
• Let it cool for a few minutes, sprinkle the powdered sugar on top for a decorative touch, and then serve
• Repeat steps 5 through 8 with the second pizza

Notes

• It can be helpful to warm the milk for the dough in the microwave for 30 seconds or so before adding it in
• If you need a warm place for the dough to rise, heat your oven for a few minutes and then turn it off before placing the dough inside

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The post Tempting Triple Chocolate Caramel Dessert Pizza Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.

Growing up we always called this recipe frog eye fruit salad. Maybe that’s just because it is a fun name for a kid, and it really just sticks with you. I can’t seem to find any other name for it, so I guess that one is gonna stay.

Fruit salad is my preferred kind of salad. I’ve noted before that I haven’t always been the biggest salad fan. But give me a sweet and juicy salad full of fruit, with no greens in sight, and I am in.

But this is not your typical fruit salad. Included in the mixed bowl of fruits is a wide range of fresh-cut fruits along with a mixed sweet whipped topping and the big secret ingredient.

The secret to this fruit salad recipe – pasta. So, I guess that makes this a pasta salad?

Pasta, marshmallows, pineapple whipped cream dressing, and a whole heap of fresh fruit make this a fruit salad you won’t want to miss.

Why is it Called Frog Eye Fruit Salad?

The secret ingredient itself is what causes the unique recipe name.

Acini di pepe means seeds of pepper in Italian – and they are about the size of peppercorns so the name holds true. When the cooked acini di pepe pasta is added to the dish, it ends up looking kind of like frog eyes. I guess. I mean, I haven’t looked at a whole lot of frog’s eyes in my day. So I’ll take this recipe’s word for it.

You should be able to find acini di pepe pasta in a smaller, dense box in the pasta aisle. Or you can buy some online.

Because I make a few adjustments to the recipe (i.e. adding in a lot more fresh fruit), it loses a little bit of the look. In a more traditional frog eye fruit salad the dressing-covered pasta is a lot more evident.

If you were to mix together just the whipped cream dressing with the cooked pasta it would look similar to a tapioca pudding.

Ingredients of Frog Eye Fruit Salad

Fruit.

You can really choose what fruits you prefer, but I have suggestions for what seems to work best in this salad.

The more traditional recipes typically call for canned pineapple and canned mandarin oranges. Which is okay if you are in a rush, but I thought I’d try using fresh fruit to make it.

And I added a whole lot more than just pineapple and mandarin oranges. My recipe includes grapes, apples, strawberries, kiwis, and bananas along with the pineapple and orange slices. I think this all adds a lot more variety in both taste and texture to the fruit salad.

I also elected to include mini marshmallows. Because marshmallows are delicious.

Also, if you have the time to make homemade whipped cream, I highly encourage it. Since that is part of the main dressing for all of the other ingredients, a homemade one kicks everything up a notch.

You can also feel free to try any of the following when mixing up your own batch:

• Blueberries
• Blackberries
• Cherries (fresh or maraschino)
• Shredded coconut
• Watermelon
• Honeydew melon

How did yours turn out?

I’d love to hear when you try out this frog eye fruit salad! Take a pic of your food and share your success with me by adding it to your Instagram stories or feed, and tagging me @doyouroux, or by using #doyouroux.

Plus, leave a rating to let me know how you liked the recipe. It helps me out a lot to know how things worked out… or didn’t.

Delicious Frog Eye Fruit Salad

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: Dessert, Sides, AppetizersDifficulty: Intermediate

Servings

20

servings

Prep time

15

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Total time

35

minutes

Pasta, marshmallows, pineapple whipped cream dressing, and a whole heap of fresh fruit make this a fruit salad you won’t want to miss.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry acini di pepe pasta

• 2 cups pineapple, chopped

• 1 and 1/2 cups grapes, halved

• 1 and 1/2 cups strawberries, sliced

• 4 mandarin oranges, peeled and sectioned

• 3 large kiwi

• 1 large apple, chopped

• 1 banana, sliced

• 2 cups mini marshmallows

• Pineapple Whipped Cream Dressing

• 1 cup pineapple juice, divided

• 4 teaspoons cornstarch

• 1/3 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 5 cups prepared whipped cream

Directions

• Boil the pasta according to package directions and drain it in a fine-mesh strainer
• Rinse, peel, cut, chop, and slice the fruit into bite-sized pieces
• Pineapple Whipped Cream Dressing
• make pineapple sauce, reserve 1 tbsp juice
• combine with whipped cream
• add in the pasta and fruit

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The post The Secret To This Delicious Frog Eye Fruit Salad appeared first on Do You Roux?.

These simple, sticky, and delicious vanilla Rice Krispie treats will delight nearly everyone.

I don’t know what’s up with this theme lately, but this one is another that my wife taught me. Just like the easy pumpkin muffins, this was one my wife always whipped up for us. Until I wanted to post the recipe here, and so I had her walk me through how to make them.

We made a whole lot of these batches together. The Rice Krispie treats are taking over…

Luckily, Rice Krispie treats are one of the most shareable desserts ever. So we’ve spread the love to some of our neighbors with friendly plates of treats.

So, if you aren’t one of our neighbors and would like to have your own vanilla Rice Krispie treats, read on and try this easy recipe today.

Tips for Success

While I am a fan of butter (see brown butter sage sauce, buttermilk biscuits, or steak with gorgonzola butter for proof), most Rice Krispie treats recipes call for too much. This recipe scales back a bit on the butter. But still does not skimp on flavor.

But a bit of butter on your fingers can help when flattening the vanilla Rice Krispie treats out into the pan. Spread a small amount out on your fingers before pressing the treats down and it will be much less likely to stick. And yes, you will be a true butter-fingers when you do this.

Just make sure to wash your hands before picking up anything dangerous or expensive so you don’t lose your grip.

And, if you would like to decorate your treats (see below), you can flip over the cooled Rice Krispie treats for a pretty flat top. At least for me, the bottom settled flat, much better than the top did.

Or you could also try using a similar-sized pan to press down the treats in order to try to get them as flat as possible.

Mix-ins, Mix-ups, and Flavors

One of the best things about this recipe is its versatility. It is simple and basic, so it takes well to any kind of experimentation.

Try mixing in any of the following when adding the rice cereal into the melted marshmallow:

• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles
• Mini marshmallows
• Crushed Oreos
• M&Ms
• Crushed pretzel sticks

Or, make a drastic change by switching up the cereal used as the base. Instead of Rice Krispies, use some Cocoa or Fruity Pebbles. Cap’N Crunch, Reese’s Puffs, Froot Loops, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Lucky Charms could also be delicious changes.

I mean, most breakfast cereals are like 99% sugar anyways, so it would make sense to turn them into dessert.

You could even stir in a few tablespoons of any of the following flavors to the melted marshmallow before adding the cereal:

• Salted caramel
• Butterscotch
• Chocolate syrup
• Peanut butter

And, finally, you could also let the butter cook a little longer before moving on to the next steps. Let the butter brown and it will add more depth of flavor to your final treats. Just make sure you don’t let the butter burn.

Decorating Vanilla Rice Krispie Treats

Rice Krispie treats are like a blank canvas for your decorative creativity.

Top them with sprinkles, royal icing, or candy melts. Or use cookie cutters to cut the treats into whatever shape your heart desires. Or, do both and cut them and then decorate them on top. You can even mix in a little bit of food coloring with the melted marshmallow to completely change the final color of the Rice Krispie treats themselves.

You can turn them into treat pops by pushing lollipop sticks through the center.

But they take really well to some Halloween creativity. Make a mummy by drizzling white melting chocolate across the treat and adding some beady eyes poking through. Or dip it in green melting chocolate and then add some black hair and a stitched mouth to make Frankenstein’s monster.

I am, admittedly, not the best at decorating. Nevertheless, it was really fun bringing our little Frankenstein’s monsters to life with some green and black candy melts. The purpose isn’t to have perfect-looking treats to post on social media, it is to have fun and delicious treats for your home.

At least that’s what I keep telling myself.

Simple Vanilla Rice Krispie Treats

Recipe by Marc PetersonCourse: DessertDifficulty: Easy

Servings

9

servings

Prep time

5

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Cooling Time

30

minutes

Total time

45

minutes

Simple, sticky, and delicious vanilla Rice Krispie treats delight nearly everyone with just the right amount of sweet and crunch

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons salted butter

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 10 ounce package mini marshmallows

• 6 cups Rice Krispies, or other cereal

Directions

• Melt the butter in a medium-large pot over medium heat
• Once the butter has fully melted and foamed up a little, add in the vanilla extract
• Pour the marshmallows into the pot and stir to coat them in the melted butter
• Continue to stir as the marshmallows melt, pressing and breaking them apart to help them melt faster
• When the marshmallows are fully melted with no lumps, remove the pot from the heat, add the Rice Krispies, and stir until they are thoroughly combined and there are no dry cereal spots without marshmallow
• Pour the Rice Krispie treats into a greased or lined 9×13 pan and press them down to spread them in an even layer
• Wait at least 30 minutes for them to cool, cut them into rectangles, decorate if desired, serve and enjoy

Notes

• Use a smaller or larger pan when pouring out the Rice Krispie treats to achieve thicker or thinner final treats

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The post Simple Vanilla Rice Krispie Treats Recipe appeared first on Do You Roux?.