Turtle Cheesecake Pizza: Guest Post by Crumb

Hi folks.

Okay so this is the last day of guest post mania. I asked my wonderful friend Isabelle of Crumb to make your jaws drop today. Let's just say the woman delivered in a big way.

I adore Izz and had the good fortune to meet her in Toronto for Techmunch this summer. She is such an amazing individual. Izz is kind, thoughtful, generous and fall on your backside funny. This is a lady who sampled various pizza bases and spreads for me knowing I couldn't eat at the conference because of my belly issues. She gave honest and careful feedback helping me decide which one I should drop my hard earned cash on. I knew I could trust her judgement because anyone who takes that kind of care and time to help someone else pick out food is a total gem. I love her to bits and we're planning a second blogger rendezvous in Toronto in September if I don't come home bankrupt from this trip.

Izz got assigned my blog for Secret Recipe Club one month and made Spicy Pizza Dough. She did me proud and I have to admit I was more than thrilled to have this award winning blogger make a recipe of mine. It's was a huge honour then and a huge honour today to be involved with this incredible blogger. I love everything she does from her jaw dropping Toffee Cinnamon Banana Bread, to her awe inspiring Multi Coloured Cheese Ravioli, to her spoon licking Nutella Banana Ice Cream, to her I must make it now Lemon Cherry Hot Cross Buns, to her lick your plate clean Smoked Brisket Burgers with Spicy Onion Jam. This lady delivers every single time. There's not one recipe on her blog that I wouldn't go back for doubles of, possibly even triples.

I was also lucky enough to interview Isabelle for my Burning Down The Kitchen series so I was able to make her Chocolate Brownie Biscotti. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven people. Biscotti and brownies are rolled into one. Izz is a genius. I absolutely fell madly in love with her while getting to know her better. I cannot wait to hit the Toronto Farmers Markets together this fall. Until then I'm going to let her entertain and delight you today. You will most certainly adore her as much as I do. Please welcome Isabelle to the blog!

Hi folks! I’m so excited to be standing in for the one and only Kim Bee today. Not that I could ever fill her shoes, because she’s as unique and irreplaceable as it gets, but I promise to do my best to keep you all entertained today while she’s off gallivanting somewhere between Toronto and the Prairies.

So here’s the score.  In honour of the fact that Kim and I bonded over her amazing Killer Spicy Pizza Dough, I decided to make her a pizza.  A dessert pizza, to be specific. And not just any ol’ dessert pizza, either, because that just wasn’t cool enough.

Ladies and gentlemen, I made her a CHOCOLATE TURTLE CHEESECAKE pizza.

(Pause for applause)

Yeah, I know. It’s a little crazy, but this is the Asylum after all, so I’m sure it’ll fit right in.  And besides, if there’s one thing Kim loves more than pizza, it’s Turtles… so it seemed like a shame that she didn’t have a recipe on her blog yet that let her have both at once.

So I’m not going to lie to you.  There’s nothing healthy about this baby, and it probably contains more than your recommended daily intake of chocolate… but oh my, is it ever worth it – there’s a dark chocolate pizza crust, a tangy caramel cheesecake topping, a scattering of roughly chopped toasted pecans, and a drizzle of hot fudge and caramel sauce to finish things off. It’s a slice of pure heaven, topped off with chocolatey, carameley goodness.

You could finish them off with a scoop of vanilla or chocolate ice cream, I suppose, but it was so good as it was that I didn’t want to push my luck. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, right?

And speaking of too much of a good thing, each mini-pizza theoretically serves two, but I’d probably have finished off an entire pizza on my own if only we hadn’t had company. (So, in other words, I won’t judge if you actually do polish one off all by your lonesome if there’s no one around to guilt you into sharing. We’re all friends here, after all.)

Print Pin

5 from 6 votes

An over the top decadent dessert pizza by Isabelle Boucher of Crumb. She made me a Turtle Cheesecake Pizza. Yup, you're reading that right!!

Servings 8

Author Isabelle Boucher (Crumb)

Ingredients

Chocolate Pizza Crust:

• 1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water divided
• 2 ½ cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp canola oil

Caramel Cheesecake Layer:

• 1 package 340g cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• ½ tsp vanilla extract

Toppings:

• Toasted pecans roughly chopped
• Caramel sauce
• Hot fudge sauce

Instructions

Prepare the Dough:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine yeast and sugar with ¼ cup warm water. Stir until yeast is dissolved, then let stand to proof for 5 minutes or until foamy.
• Stir in the remaining ¾ cup water, then add flour, cocoa powder, salt and oil. Mix on low speed until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a soft, elastic ball. (If the mixture looks too dry, add more water, a tablespoon or two at a time, until the dough comes together. If it's too wet, add more flour.)
• Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Shape into a ball, then transfer to a lightly oiled mixing bowl and cover with a clean, damp towel. Set aside in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for about 2 hours or until almost doubled in size.
• Divide the dough into 4 evenly-sized pieces. Gently knead each piece 3-4 times, then shape into a ball. Transfer to a large baking sheet, cover with a damp towel and let rise for another hour.

Prepare the Cheesecake Layer:

• In a mixing bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract until smooth.

Finish the Pizzas:

• Once the dough is done rising, place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 450F.
• Roll out one of the pieces of pizza dough into a ½" thick circle. Transfer to a pizza peel generously dusted with flour (or the back of a baking sheet, if you don't have a peel). Spoon ⅓ cup cheesecake batter onto the crust, and smooth out into an even layer.
• Using the peel, gently slide the pizza onto the preheated pizza stone. Bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the pizza dough is cooked through, then switch on the broiler and continue cooking for 2-3 minutes or until the cheesecake layer is lightly golden. Set the finished pizza on a wire rack to cool for 15-20 minutes.
• Repeat this process with the remaining pizza crusts, to make a total of four finished pizzas. (If you don't have a pizza stone, this can also be done by baking the pizzas in parchment-lined cookie sheets.)
• Sprinkle each pizza with chopped pecans, pressing them down into the cheesecake layer, then drizzle with a generous amount of hot fudge and caramel sauce. Slice each pizza into quarters, and serve.

Okay seriously, that's chocolate dough up above. Chocolate freaking dough people. Chocolate freaking dough with cheesecake filling, then layered with freaking caramel and freaking chocolate and freaking pecans. Turtle Freaking Cheesecake Freaking Pizza people with Chocolate Freaking Dough! Okay so apparently I died on our vacation and this is heaven right. Cuz in my world heaven would be filled with Turtle Freaking Cheesecake Freaking Pizza with Chocolate Freaking Dough. Honestly don't worry about me at all. I'm in heaven with the a dessert only an angel could dream up. So it's all good. Go on without me. I'll just hang out up here eating my Turtle Freaking Cheesecake Freaking Pizza with Chocolate Freaking Dough. Ah, the good life. I wonder if I can convince someone to make me a Turtle Pepsi to wash it down with?

Thank you so much to Isabelle for guest posting for me today. Have I told you lately that I love you. Have I told you that's there's no one else above you. Fill my heart with gladness. Take away all my sadness. Ease my troubles, that's what you do.

To anyone who is not following Isabelle's blog, Crumb, what the heck is the matter with you people. Get your sorry freaking butts over there immediately and sign up for her email subscriptions. I mean who in their freaking right minds wouldn't want things like Turtle Cheesecake Pizza delivered right to their freaking inbox. You freaking fools, run, now, freaking get the lead out people! While you're there make sure you stalk her on freaking Twitter too.  You will freaking thank me.

Right now I'm hoping against freaking hope we're back from Alberta and I'm in the freaking kitchen making Turtle Freaking Cheesecake Freaking Pizza with Chocolate Freaking Dough. Or I'm in heaven eating  a smorgasbord of Turtle Pizzas and drinking Turtle Pepsi's while I drop crumbs down on you all.

Toodles and smoochies! xx