Dessert Pizza? You Bet!

Pizza is usually a savoury dish ... but it doesn't have to be. There are all sorts of wonderful savoury toppings. Most of us in the west know the common, tomato sauce, meat and cheese. I grew up with the Montreal-style "all dressed" with sauce, green pepper and mushroom, cheese and pepperoni (and anchovies if my mother got her way ... and she often did).

It almost "creeped me out" the first time I learnt you could put ham and pineapple on a pizza (and embarrassed me, a little, that it was a "Montreal" innovation). My first taste of it reinforced my distaste for ham, particularly on a pizza. I could see pineapple ... but 20 plus years later I'm still not certain how. Still, I'm amazed by the things one can use to make a delicious pizza!

I've put things on a pizza that have made people say, “You put THAT on a pizza???” or, “No! I don't want a fruit pizza!!!”

Today I just adore a baked bean pizza, or the more mainstream, spicy black olive with green bunching onion. I love thin crust and deep dish. I love vegetarian and meaty. Even a naked pizza (just a bit of oil and herbs) can be a delight! I've rarely met a pizza I didn't like. Almost every pizza I've ever had has had some redeeming value – even if it was just that it was pizza.

I was in my early 40's before I learnt that I loved olives on pizza - I didn't even know you could put them on a pizza until I was in my late 30's. I discovered covered pizzas at that same time.

The only thing I found myself missing was dessert – a good dessert pizza. Ohhh.... Dessert! Nobody offered a dessert pizza.

So one day I asked myself what would work and the only thing that came to mind (and I don't know why) was Apple Pie Pizza with a salted, maple caramel. It became “a la mode” once the pie was on a plate. Of course there are other flavours swimming about in my mind now - but today is the Apple Pie Pizza with Salted Maple Caramel - a la mode!

The crust for this pie is made with a softer, sweet, dessert dough. The ice cream helps cool the sweet flavours.

It's apple pie! It's pizza! It's got ice cream! What could possible be wrong with this dessert!