Stephanie's Fruit Pizza (Dessert)

This recipe comes from one of my students who is an awesome cook. Ever since watching Jamie Oliver's video on superb salads, she has made her own salad dressings for lunch. She has tried out her own oreo truffles. Most recently, she brought this wonderful dessert to a shared meal. It was wonderful because it had a little bit of sugary sweet (from the 'crust') with the rest of the flavor from the fruit.

This dessert would work well with many kinds of fruit, as long as they are firm, like kiwi, apples, or bananas. Watery fruit such as peaches or oranges would not be good.

Ingredients

• 1 package premade cookie dough (usually in the refrigerated section)
• vegetable oil spray
• one 13.5 oz tub of cream cheese fruit dip, such as T. Marzetti brand
• 1 quart fresh strawberries, sliced
• 1 pint fresh blueberries
• 1 pint fresh blackberries
• 1 pint fresh red raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven according to temperature on cookie dough package.
2. Very lightly, spray your pizza stone or cookie sheet.
3. Roll out sugar cookie dough into one large pizza size circle.
4. Bake according to package directions.
5. Once cookie 'crust' is completely cool, spread most / all of the fruit dip onto your cookie.
6. Evenly spread your fruit topping over the entire cookie.
7. This pizza can be covered with aluminum foil and placed in the fridge to be served later in the day if needed.

Blueberry Almond Muffins

I have a huge weakness for berries! All the berries at the local open market are looking gorgeous and are on sale before their two-week vacation so I scooped up a quart of blueberries and have finally been able to test out this recipe, an adaptation from  Fruit: Recipes for Lunch, Brunch, Desserts And More. I always buy more fruit than a recipe calls for because of my, ahem, need to test berries for freshness.

Ingredients (makes about 18 cupcake-sized muffins)

• 1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour (unbleached)
• 1 3/4 c. almonds, ground finely in food processor (equals about 1 1/2 c. ground)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ginger
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1 c. buttermilk (see note below)
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp. butter, softened (1/2 stick)
• 2 c. fresh blueberries (about 1 pint)
• cupcake papers/liners

 Note: Rather than buying buttermilk, you can pour 1 tsp. lemon juice into a liquid measuring cup and fill to the 1-cup line with milk. Let stand for five minutes, and use as buttermilk in this recipe.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine flour, almonds, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. Mix well, then add sugar.
3. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine buttermilk, egg, and butter. Beat or mix together thoroughly.
4. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture and stir well.
5. Gently fold in blueberries. 
6. Spoon mixture into cupcake liners until about 3/4 full. 
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes.
8. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before enjoying.

Comments

While baking, these looked like little blueberry volcanoes! I loved the subtle texture from the ground up almonds and the sweet of the blueberry topped with a pat of butter.

Two cups will definitely maximize the blueberry experience, but it is important to note that more blueberries mean less batter, keeping your muffins from getting too tall. If you choose to reduce the blueberries to 1 1/2 cups you might get a more traditional textured muffin. You could also completely replace the berries with any other small berries of your choice. My brother-in-law is encouraging me to try these again with raspberries.