Fruit-Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

The Recipe

In honor of Memorial Day, I thought I would make a patriotic themed dessert for a picnic with my friends. I found this variation on a traditional fruit pizza in my Pampered Chef All the Best cookbook(pg  124)  while the recipe called for just strawberries and oranges, I decided to change it up an use strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries.  I was excited to finally try out my new stone I had gotten a while ago.

 

Making the Recipe

Rather than going through all the effort of rolling out the cookie dough and trying to get it in the shape you want, I have found a shortcut.  Simply to cut slices in the tube of cookie dough while it is still cold and stiff, and then arrange them on the pan and pat them together.  This lets you easily make whatever shape cookie you want.

While the cookie was baking, I began mixing up the cream cheese topping.  The baker’s chocolate melted up nice and mixed in nicely with the cream cheese.  Mixing in the cool whip took a bit longer with the chocolate but it still worked fine.

The cookie does expand quite a bit so make sure there is room on the baking dish to allow for it.

Let the cookie cool at least most of the way before putting the cream cheese/cool whip mixture on.  I was short on time and had started “frosting” it while it was still decently warm and the mixture tended to melt on the cookie and slide rather than spreading well.  I could have easily used more cookie as the mixture made a very thick layer.

While cleaning up the fruit to top the pizza, I found the giant strawberry that is in the middle and I couldn’t bear to cut it.  I ran out of time to do the chocolate glaze so I just finished decorating with the strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries and was good to go.

The Result

I think it came out really well and I love the design on the top.  That giant strawberry looks just delicious in the middle doesn’t it?  It was a nice touch with the added bits of chocolate were a nice touch.  Personally, I prefer the base to be made with sugar cookie instead but this was still good and it totally disappeared.

Would I make this again/recommend it?

Yes however it is not my favorite.  If I were to make it again, I might use sugar cookie like is the more traditional method instead.  Adding in the white chocolate added a bit of nice flavor that I might add in again though.  Over, you just can’t go wrong with combining cookie, cream cheese, and fruit!

Transforming my Countertop into a Masterpiece

It has been a while since I have had a chance to try anything new in the kitchen due to a mini renovation going on in there.  This past weekend I worked on redoing my countertops with a kit I found at Lowe’s which I will review today.

Countertop Transformations (http://modernmasterstransformations.com/) is an easy do-it-yourself method of redoing your countertops at a very affordable price.  The new countertop is applied directly over the existing one and comes in a variety of colors.  Provided your old countertops are in decent condition (not warping bad or peeling off), give yourself a weekend and you could be on your way to a new kitchen

While not everything comes with the kit, there is a great list right on the box of all the additional items you will need to purchase (paint rollers, brushes, etc)  Everything is laid out well in the box and even includes a DVD to show how to apply the new countertop.

Step 1: Measure your kitchen

Make sure to calculate the amount of countertop to be covered beforehand so you know if one kit will be enough.  My kitchen has about 2/3 of the countertop that the kit will cover so I was good to go.

Step 2: Prepare Countertop

Stated time needed: ~30-45min for 50 sq. ft

Actual time needed: ~A bit over an hour

Clean the countertop well to ensure that all grease is off.  Then sand the surface so that the adhesive base will stick better.  It was sometimes hard to see the scratches in my laminate but as long as you give it a bit of attention, it should be fine.  Once the countertop is sanded and wiped down, tape off all areas you don’t want to get messy.  I recommend getting Frog Tapefor areas that you want a sharp edge on.  It is a painters tape that has a sealer on the edges to keep material from bleeding through like some other painters tapes do.  I would also recommend taping a cloth in front of any cabinets so that the color speckles will just drop to the floor instead of getting inside everything.

Step 3-5: Apply Base Coat, Wetting Agent, and Decorative Chips

Stated time needed: ~1 hour, -, 20 minutes

Actual time needed: ~1 hour total

Overall this step wasn’t as bad I was imagining while reading the instructions.  The biggest deal is that you only have 20 minutes from the time you start applying this really thick paint until the time that you apply the colored chips to make sure they all stick well.  I broke my countertops into two sections so that I could apply the chips as I went.  As it states in the instructions “more is better” and I made sure the countertops were well coated with decorative chips.  It probably goes without saying, but be prepared to have a HUGE mess.  There were chips all over the floor and then proceeded to be tracked through a lot of the house.  They do clean up fairly easily though.

Step 6: Sand down the new Surface

Stated time needed: ~2hrs

Actual time needed: 2+ hrs

Once the chips and adhesive base have cured for 12 hours, I went through and salvaged as many of the chips as possible before sanding.  Any extras that are left over make great gifts for those artsy/crafty people in your life to have fun with.  It can be very easy to sand right through the base on the edges so be extra careful there.  I had to do a couple small repairs on areas that got missed/sanded too far but overall it was on track to turn out great!

Step 7: Apply Protective Top Coat

Stated time needed: ~1hr

Actual time needed: ~1hr

This is the step that turns a bunch of glued down tiny confetti into a countertop!  As opposed to the case adhesive, this coat is very thin and is prone to run on vertical surfaces so beware of that.  It is important to get this coat as even as possible since any major bumps or ridges will be more apparent than any of the other layers.  Once the top coat is on, it needs to sit for 48 hours before using lightly and then a full week before using it as normal.  I removed the tape and cleaned up the area the next day after letting the top coat sit overnight.  This way the coating wouldn’t be completely sealed and solid so I could actually get the painters tape out fairly easily.

Overall opinions

Once things fully cure and I have a chance to use my new countertop, I will be able to better give an opinion on how well it holds up but for right now it seems pretty nice and should work well for me.  I was tired of having the laminate lines along the edges which made the kitchen feel a bit old and outdated.  Now I have a beautiful countertop that matches my new color scheme for my kitchen.  While I still need to finish the lower cabinets, I am well on my way to my new kitchen!  It is possible to do the countertop renovation all on your own, but I would recommend having a second person to help every now and then.