Ever since the time change, my urge to hole up in my freshly-painted kitchen with fresh ingredients has grown strong. My urge to devour desserts, however, has been around a lot longer. This past weekend my friends and I held our fifth annual Fakesgiving, a Thanksgiving for friends where everyone brings a dish they're good at making and some booze and we revel in each others' company.
The tradition started one year after my mother was killed. I was living in San Francisco with one of my good friends and I was having a hard time dealing with the one year anniversary of my mom's death. My friend contacted another good friend at home and they arranged to have a bunch of my friends show up in SF for our own Thanksgiving so I would know how loved I was.
We have managed to keep the tradition alive and well, topping ourselves every year (prom dresss, raw turkey, boys and girls switching clothes, and so on). Fakesgiving does not require Thanksgiving foods, just people bringing whatever they are good at making and booze and everyone enjoying each other's company. We basically celebrate how much we all like each other in a party fashion.
The fifth annual Fakesgiving was held this past Saturday and it was absolutely magical. Our small town received a very large beating early Saturday evening from Alaska and we got almost a foot of snow. We lost power a few hours later until 6am the next day, so we spent a fun evening playing outside (the boys threw snowballs at each other from off the roof) with both fireplaces blazing inside the house and games and coodling by candlelight.
There is still snow on the ground outside and it's been getting dark extremely early and it's cold. Naturally, this puts me in the mood for comfort food and what's more comforting than dessert? This recipe was inspired by two things: the Hot Italian Zucchero Pizza and the confused checkout guy at my local health food store.
When I was buying my second package of gluten-free pizza crust mix after my first two epic failures, I also grabbed a bar of Chocolove Rasberries in Dark Chocolate (my favorite chocolate to carry around for sweettooth emergencies). The checkout guy asked me if I was going to put the chocolate into the dough and I looked at him confused. I told him the purchases were for separate purposes, though I flashed on that out-of-control-delicious dessert pizza I'd had at Hot Italian and began to formulate an idea.
I knew I would have leftover dough after making the Arugula and WhiteFresh Mozzarella with Arugula and White Truffle Oil Pizza so I decided to make a dessert pizza using the raspberry chocolate. The result was so delicious that my sister asked me to make three more so she could eat them for every meal.
Chocolate, Raspberry, and Banana Dessert Pizza
1/2 package Bob's Red Mill Pizza Crust mix (to make one pizza, use the whole package to make 2)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 bars Chocolove Raspberries in Dark Chocolate
1 package fresh raspberries
2 bananas
a little extra powdered sugar
Make the pizza dough according to directions on the package. When dough is finished kneed in 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Sprinkle some powdered sugar on a pizza stone or pizza sheet so the dough doesn't stick and roll or kneed into whatever shape you want (I chose a heart because I heart dessert). Sprinkle with powdered sugar and bake the dough for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. While the dough is baking, melt chocolate on the stove in a double boiler. You can create a makeshift double boiler by placing a glass bowl on top of a pan of boiling water that is larger than the pan. Once the dough is done slather on chocolate and add fresh raspberries and sliced bananas. Drizzle any remaining chocolate over the top of the fruit and dust with powdered sugar.
Bon appetit...just not wheat!