Gourmet night wouldn’t be complete without a gourmet dessert pizza! To top off a great pizza night, I chose an Almond and Roasted Apple pizza recipe from Pizzamarketplace.com which I modified. The pizza was a bit expensive, but well worth it in everyones opinion! Here are the ingredients I used for an 11 inch pie:

Base:
8 oz tub - Mascarpone cheese
5 oz - Sour Creme
3 oz - Brown Sugar
1/2 t - Almond Extract
1/4 t - Vanilla Extract

Toppings:
2 - Red Delicious Apples (roasted - see below)
3 oz - Dried Cranberries (plumped - see below)
3 oz - Slivered Almonds
Streusel Topping (4 tbl butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar)

To prepare the base mixture, I simply combined the ingredients in a mixing bowl and set them aside. I also had to plump the cranberries by simmering them in hot water until they regained their round shape.

The preparation of the apples took the most time. I thinly sliced (about 1/4 inch slices) 2 Red Delicious apples and placed them in a medium sauce pan with 1 t cornstarch, 1/3 c sugar, cinnamon, 1 t lemon juice and 1 T apple juice. The apples have to be heated over low heat for about 35 minutes or until they are tender and caramelized. Then they are set aside to cool for assembly.

I hand made streusel by mixing 1/4 stick of butter with about 1/4 cup sugar and 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour. I adjusted the flour amount by adding until the streusel was breaking into small crumbs when mixed.

I stretched a blank of Bill’s Traditional into an 11 inch pie and spread the cheese mixture on with a spatula. The cheese mix was very thick and I had to spread from the center toward the edges to keep the pizza in shape. Once the base was down, I placed the apple slices edge to edge. Next, cranberries were drained then sprinkled evenly on the pie. Almonds and Streusel were also spread. The streusel covered the toppings lightly.

Pizza was baked for about 12 minutes at 480 degrees. When removed from the oven, I drizzled the pie with a small amount of caramel topping in a criss-cross pattern. With all of the amazing ingredients, how could anyone not like this pizza?!? The mascarpone cheese is the main ingredient in tiramisu. As such it was a bit expensive (almost $9 per pound). Everyone loved this pie, but I will have to find a way to reduce the cost if I am going to be able to make it more frequently! Great dessert pizza!