Berry Dessert Pizza

I'm in the process of moving back to my mom and dad's house from my apartment.  Before I move away to California, I want to spend plenty of time with them.  I'm trying to move back to Isom and out of my apartment before May 1, and I will be gone from tomorrow until Sunday.  Jen kindly helped me pack some bigger things into dad's truck, and I drove back to Isom.  When I got there, it was just me.  And as soon as I pulled in, my Uncle Tommy came over and asked if I need help.

My family is an incredible one.  I needed help, and he was more than willing to offer it to me.  I wanted to make something for him as a thank you for helping me unload all the heavy stuff.  So, I made him a Berry Dessert Pizza that I came up with at Jeremy's house.

This version is a little more along, and Jeremy's had nothing but blueberries.  This pizza has strawberries, huckleberries, and black raspberries in a strawberry glaze.  My dad has always loved apple dessert pizzas, and I wanted to make a berry one that was delicious and a little on the healthier side for my daddy.  I saved him a piece out of this pizza, and he loved it.  He kept talking about putting pineapples on it.  At some point, I'll try my hand at making him a pineapple version of this one.  I'm pretty sure it'll be awesome and scrumptious, but different from this one in several ways.

It's made with a whole wheat crust, and the glaze is made with agave nectar!  I do love the stuff. But the glaze still has some powder sugar in it.  For the berry mix, you can use whatever berries you want.  If you want to make a cherry pizza, you can just replace whatever berries with cherries, this includes the glaze recipe.  You do need to make sure that you have a total of two cups of berries to mix in the glaze and 3/4 cup of berries for the glaze itself.

Ingredients for powder sugar icing:

3 Tbsp. vegan cream cheese
2 Tbsp. vegan butter
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2/3 c. powder sugar
2 tsp. almond milk

Directions for powder sugar icing:

1. In a small food processor, blender, or mixer, cream together the vegan cream cheese and vegan butter.
2. Add in vanilla and cream some more.
3. Add in 1/3 c. powder sugar until mixed in, then add the other 1/3 c. until mixed.
4. Add in almond milk.  If needed, add a little more almond milk to the mixture.  You don't want this to be the consistancy of cake frosting, but not too thin either.  The 2 tsp. should be enough.
5. Place mixture in a bowl and set aside.

Ingredients for fruit glaze and berries:

3/4 c. strawberries + 1 c. more (can be frozen)
1/2 c. huckleberries or blueberries (can be frozen)
1/2 c. black raspberries (can be frozen)
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. agave nectar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Directions for glaze and berries:

1. Add 3/4 c. strawberries and water in a blender.  Blend well then pour mixture into a pot.
2. Mix the remaining berries in a bowl and set aside.
3. BEFORE heating the berry and water mixture, add in the agave nectar and the cornstarch.  Mix until the cornstarch is well blended.  If you heat this before adding the cornstarch, it will lump and not mix.  The result is kinda ugly, not so tasty, and will not gel appropriately.
4. Turn on stove to medium heat.  Continue stirring until mixture starts to thicken and boil.
5. Once the mixture starts to boil, continue boiling for 2 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and let cool down for 10 minutes.
7. Pour glaze over berries and regfrigerate.

Ingredients for oat topping:

2 Tbsp. vegan butter
1 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
4 Tbsp. old-fashioned rolled oats

Directions:

1. Soften the vegan butter in the microwave for about 15 seconds.
2. Using a fork, mash the brown sugar and cinnamon into the butter.
3. Mash in the oats.

Ingredients for crust:

1 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour plus more for kneeding
1 package of Fleischman's Pizza Crust Yeast
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
2/3 c. hot tap water (not boiling)
3 Tbsp. melted coconut oil
1 tsp. agave nectar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of cardamom

Directions for crust:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Add 1 c. of the whole wheat pastry flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.  Mix together.
3. Add hot tap water and oil to mixture and mix together.
4. Add 1/4 c. flour at a time until dough ball is formed.  It may take more flour.
5. Put some more of the flour on a flat surface.  But the dough ball in the flour and begin to knead the dough for 1 minute.
6. Add more flour on the counter.  Flaten the top of the dough ball, then add the agave nectar, cinnamon and cardamom.  Knead this into the dough, adding flour until it is no longer sticky.
7. Knead the dough for at least 4 minutes.
8. Place crust on pizza pan and stretch out the dough or roll out dough until it is around 12" in diameter.

Directions for pizza:

1. On the unbaked pizza crust, spread part of the berries and glaze mixture.  It should only use half.
2. On top of the berries and glaze, pinch off the oat topping and spread it around the top of the berries and glaze.
3. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is brown.
4. After taking the pizza out of the oven, spread icing over the top in whatever design you would like.
5. Cut pizza using a pizza cutter, grab a plate and a slice, and chow down.

Tonight, I will be making this again, but one for mom and dad.  With all the different recipes, it sounds a lot more complicated than it is.  It will take very little effort and time to make the pizza, well, except for the kneading.  There is some effort put into the kneading. 

And thanks again Uncle Tommy!  I hope you liked your thank you pizza.