Family Recipe: Strawberry Dessert Pizza

Leela Cyd
Leela Cyd
Leela Cyd is a photographer and cookbook author. Her previous books include Food with Friends and Cooking Up Trouble. She lives in Santa Barbara with her husband and new baby son Izador Cosmo.
updated Jun 5, 2019
summer
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Strawberry Pizza

Serves8

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My mother–in–law’s signature dessert is this colorful twist on an easy–to–assemble, perfectly light, fruit galette. Somewhere during the years where she was raising two athletic boys and feeding their gang of hungry friends, she deemed it “dessert pizza” and a classic was born. Today, we are lucky enough to have her share the recipe with all of us.

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

There’s something deliciously 80’s about the way “dessert pizza” sounds in conversation, but at its heart, this dessert is absolutely timeless. It is a three–part operation, built on a simple shortbread crust, cream cheese custard and fruit topping. Any of the basic parts could be tweaked according to taste, season and what you have in your pantry.

Now that I’ve made this once, not quite as well as my mother–in–law, Genevieve, makes it (of course!), I can see many different adaptations I might make in the future. Perhaps adding cocoa powder to the crust and topping the whole thing with blueberries and kiwis? Or even keeping the shortbread and infusing the custard with bloomed saffron and dotting the top with grapefruit supremes in the winter. You get my drift — this is one of those miraculous, easy recipes which could get you famous amongst legions of teenage boy fans, and who wouldn’t want that? Thanks, Genevieve!

(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)
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Strawberry Pizza

Serves 8

Nutritional Info

Ingredients

For the crust:

  • 2 1/4 cups

    flour

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons

    salt

  • 5 tablespoons

    sugar

  • 3/4 cup

    vegetable oil

  • 3 tablespoons

    milk

For the filling:

  • 12 ounces

    (1 1/2 block-sized packages) cream cheese

  • 3/4 cup

    sugar

  • 3

    large eggs

  • 1 1/2 teaspoons

    vanilla extract

  • 3 to 4 cups

    fresh strawberries, washed, dried and sliced

  • 1/4 cup

    agave syrup

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

  2. First, make the crust: Mix the flour, sugar and salt and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk the oil and milk. Mix the dry and the wet ingredients together until evenly combined. Pat dough into a 14–inch pizza pan, creating a very thin, even layer. Bake for about 15 minutes.

  3. While the crust is baking, make the filling: Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, whisk the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy. When the crust has finished its initial bake, remove and carefully pour custard on top of cookie crust (you may have a little extra). Bake another 20 minutes until the custard is set and golden brown.

  4. Arrange the strawberries on top of the pizza and brush with agave syrup. Chill until ready to serve.


(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

• Related: My Dad’s Legendary Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

(Images: Leela Cyd Ross)

Filed in:
Dessert
Main Dish
Pizza
Ingredient