Mini pizzas/Fruity pizzas

Dessert pizza medallions

Long weekends are always busy with many plans, visitors and a lot of cooking. This weekend was quiet and I have to make maximum use of it. Yesterday, I launched a cleaning campaign at home. Everyone chipped in to help me with the Spring cleaning, half heartedly in the beginning but completely involved as it took momentum. It was a thorough job removing furniture, carpets and washing all drapes. We could not do the windows so it is pushed to next weekend. Work was delegated and I enjoyed the confusion and screaming because it gave me a spotless home by lunch time. After the kitchen was cleaned, I delegated duties and slipped away to make lunch. To appreciate the hard work put in by family, I made them a special treat. I wanted my cleaning team to have a special thank you note!

I like to make pizza dough at home as I find it to my taste. When I make pizza dough, I immediately bake the crust and save them in my freezer for later use. Last time, I made two medium size pizzas and used the remaining dough to make some mini pizza crusts.  The extra dough was rolled flat and cut into small circles.

Pizza dough was made from a recipe in the book, ‘One crust 100 pizzas’. This crust recipe is easy and it turns out pretty good. I have used it to make my crust many times with satisfactory result.

Pizza dough

• 2½ cups white bread flour/all purpose flour
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• ¾ cup lukewarm water
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

1. Sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Make a well in the center of the flour and add yeast, sugar and salt.
3. Mix oil, lukewarm water and pour into the bowl.
4. Combine the flour into a sticky dough.
5. Lightly flour your hands and the work surface to knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until it is elastic and smooth.
6. After greasing the bowl, transfer the dough to it.
7. Cover the bowl with oiled plastic wrap and let it rise for an hour in a warm place.
8. When the dough has doubled in size, divide the dough into small balls.
9. Take a ball and roll it into a thin circle.
10. Using a cookie cutter or bottle lid cut small medallions.
11. Roll the trims into a ball and cut circles again.
12. Place them on a greased baking tray.
13. Poke the center of the medallions with the tines of a fork.
14. Preheat oven to 425° F and bake for 10 minutes or until the bottom turns golden.

I had plans to make bite size pizzas. So I froze the baked medallions in a plastic bag for future use.

Those mini pizza crusts were my inspiration for this dessert. My daughter suggested the cheese and fruit combination. I baked them into small dessert pizza medallions. It had a delicious serving of plums on a bed of fresh cheese.

Pizza assembly

Ingredients

• slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
• 2 plums pitted and sliced
• 1 tbsp dried basil
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp sea salt
• few drops of balsamic vinegar
• 6 mini pizza medallions

1. Preheated oven at 350° F.
2. Take each pizza medallion and place a slice of mozzarella cheese.
3. Top it with slices of plums.
4. Drizzle honey, vinegar and sea salt.
5. Sprinkle some dried basil and transfer to a parchment paper lined baking tray.
6. Repeat with all and bake them for 10 minutes until cheese melts.
7. Remove it from oven and serve them warm.

The frozen mini crusts were very handy. I assembled the fruity pizza medallions and with another quick bake it was ready to be served.

These pizza bites are a cheese lovers delight because of the melted mozzarella on top. My son was partial to that part of it. It is rich with its sweet, sour and salty mishmash of tastes.

Try it as a simple dessert for the weekend or to celebrate any special occasion. Consider it a finger food or appetizer for a change too.

When served still warm out of the oven it tastes delicious. It is quite hard to resist eating just one. Cheers!

I would like to link this to party at Fiesta Friday #62