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The final product was well-worth the journey, although at the time I was questioning it!
Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go quite right? Well Sunday was one of those days and we almost didn’t have dessert for our dinner company because of it.
It started out that I was supposed to hit the store on my way home from our troop’s car wash at 1:00 that afternoon to pick up the stuff I needed to make the dessert: brownie mix, strawberries and cream cheese.
I forgot. I hate that.
I got all the way home and I realized I hadn’t gone to the store.
I went back out to Aldi’s at 2pm.
Strawberries: check. Brownie mix: check. Cream cheese: check.
Go home, start the recipe, which I’ve had before as a Pampered Chef recipe, but came across my desk in an email from the 24/7 Moms blog that I follow, which listed five outrageous dessert pizzas. (Of course I had to check them out!) The email directed us to Simply Healthy Cooking with Pam to get the recipe, which I did. Apparently she changed it slightly to make it healthier. (Me throwing chocolate chips into the brownie mix probably canceled out whatever she did to make it healthy.)
The recipe said to use a 15″ round pizza stone and parchment paper so that the mix won’t run off the stone and into the oven. I didn’t have a round pizza stone but I had a large rectangular stone, so I used that.
Parchment Paper: check.
Big mess in the oven: check.
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Using the stone didn’t quite go as I’d planned.
About five minutes into the bake time, I smell something burning. Sure enough it’s dessert. I peek in and the brownie is literally dripping down in big, huge, chunky drips, into the oven. I quickly pull out the stone, throw the whole thing into the sink next to me and proceed to wash the brownie mix down the drain.
“Hmmm…technical difficulties with dessert,” I post on my status update on on Facebook as I decide what to do.
Don volunteers to run back out and get me another brownie mix. I take him up on that (he’s such a good guy) and off he goes.
He comes back around 3:30, and in the meantime I’ve decided to use the large bar pan that Pampered Chef sells. It’s long like my pizza stone but has low edges, which apparently I needed to keep the batter IN the pan.
So I try again. All goes well with the baking, the brownie pizza comes out looking just fine.
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Brownie Pizza, Take II
I begin making my cream cheese topping with my block of cream cheese. But now, I’m looking at my topping and looking at my very long brownie pizza and I’m thinking, “I don’t have enough topping.”
My next thought: “I have to go back to the store for more cream cheese.”
I won’t write what my next thought was after that, but it’s at this point where I decide that I should’ve just put a bag of Oreo’s on the table for dessert and called it a day.
It’s now 5:40 pm as I sneak out the door while Don showers, and our company was due in 20 minutes.
This time I ran to Price Rite and got my second block of cream cheese and came home.
The good news is, it all worked out and everyone liked the dessert except Elizabeth who picked off the cream cheese layer and put the strawberries back on top. Whatever…
I’d definitely make it again and you can too, in fact, I highly recommend that you try it. It was incredibly delicious.
The recipe and directions are below, and now that you know my story, none of these trials and tribulations will happen to you.
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See? So beautiful! Sooooo delicious and so just not my day that day!
BROWNIE DESSERT PIZZA
INGREDIENTS
1 box Ghiradelli Brownie Mix (I wonder if this was my first problem. I just bought any mix and I wonder if it yields more batter than Ghiradelli does. )
Parchment Paper
1 lg. rd. 15″ pizza stone or a round pizza sheet (you now know, I used the large bar pan.)
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I’d grab two, just to be sure you have enough.)
1/4 cup powdered sugar (double for two blocks of cream cheese)
Handfuls of fresh strawberries, sliced or any fruit you like with chocolate ( I also served a bowl of extra strawberries on the side so people could add more if they wanted to.)
Melted Semi-sweet Ghiradelli Chocolate Chips (I used Hershey’s syrup instead)
DIRECTIONS
Prepare the brownie mix as per the instructions on the box.
Cut the parchment paper to the shape of the pizza stone (I didn’t use parchment in the bar pan, I sprayed it with cooking spray.)
Spread the brownie mixture on the parchment paper within 1 ” of the edges. It’s important to use the parchment paper because it will help prevent the brownie mixture from seeping over the stone while in the oven cooking (we all now know how that worked out.)
Cook the brownies until the center comes out clean with a knife or toothpick (15-20 minutes).
Cool completely. Flip brownie crust over onto a cooling stone and carefully remove the parchment paper then flip the round brown crust back onto the stone or a nice plate for serving. (I did none of this and served it right in the bar pan.)
Mix the softened cream cheese with the powdered sugar well and spread on the brownie pizza base within one inch of the edge.
Layer cut strawberries around the crust and then drizzle with melted chocolate (or in my case, with Hershey’s syrup.)
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
