Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza - Using RawMio's Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

We got a new patio set last weekend, and of course we felt the need to break it in immediately. We decided to make our first night dining al fresco with the new set a little extra special by grilling out with family. Thanks to some inspiration from some good friends of ours, we decided to skip the usual cookout suspects and went with a variety of gourmet grilled pizzas, including a dessert pizza, instead.

My husband is the pizza chef and the grill master in our house, so I left this all up to him; as usual, he did not disappoint. He made his signature Southwestern barbecue chicken pizza, a kid-friendly margherita pizza, and the fan favorite - Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza. Our friends that inspired our gourmet pizza cookout actually made a very similar strawberry dessert pizza for us recently that we enjoyed so much we wanted to re-create it using RawMio's amazing Chocolate Hazelnut Spread. ---Seriously, if you try any of their spreads you cannot go wrong with this classic - it is good enough to eat straight off a spoon; in fact, I'm pretty sure that would have been its fate had hubby not used it for the pizza.---

Today I am sharing the super simple Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza recipe; this one was the biggest hit with both the adults and kids, and it was also the simplest to make. Don't worry, though! I will keep working on hubby to write a blog post, so he can share his amazing Southwest barbecue chicken recipe in the future; that one is a bit more involved. 

Strawberry Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Pizza

The Finished Product!

Ingredients:

Dough (makes enough for 2 small thin crust pizzas)

1 cup all-purpose flour 

2 cups white whole wheat flour (We're partial to King Arthur's)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 Tbsp honey (or sugar to make vegan) 

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1/4 cup flax meal or other whole grain (optional) - the flax meal adds a great texture to the dough

Toppings

1 jar (6 oz) RawMio Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

1/2 pint sliced strawberries, more if desired

Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)

Directions: 

6-12 hours before cooking time: Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl. You can use a stand mixer if you'd like, but the dough will be so wet that it won't knead well so I just use a wooden spoon. As soon as everything is mixed in, cover the bowl with a towel and leave it alone in your kitchen for 6-12 hours. If you want to do this the night before, just throw it in the fridge after mixing. The small amount of yeast and long rise time helps the flavors develop and makes it easy to roll out into thin pizza crusts.

30 minutes before cooking time: Warm up the oven or grill as hot as you can get it, ideally to about 550°.

Sprinkle a large flat surface with corn meal or flour. Place half of your dough on the surface and dust with flour. It will still be sticky, so you may need up to another half cup of flour to roll it out. Flip and knead the dough for 2 minutes, adding a dusting of flour as you go, until it doesn't stick to your hands anymore. Make sure the surface still has a dusting on it as you go too, so you can easily pick it up and flip it over. With a rolling pin, roll it into a pizza crust shape (about 10-14" diameter) as thin or thick as you want it; we prefer a thinner crust for the grilled version. If needed, keep adding flour so it doesn't stick to the surface.

If you're using a pizza pan, add a dusting of corn meal or flour to the pan, then flip your crust onto it.

5 minutes before cooking time: With a spoon, add the hazelnut spread to the crust, like you would for pizza sauce. I microwaved it for 20 or 30 seconds to soften it up and make it easy to move around. Add strawberry slices as a topping.

Put the pan in the oven or on the grill for 5-15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your crust and how thick the dough is. When it starts to brown, you're done. Sprinkle with powdered sugar immediately before serving.

You can do this directly on the grill without a pan. After the crust rests, put it directly on the grill grate for 1-2 minutes. Flip it over, quickly add the spread and toppings, then cook covered for another 2-3 minutes.

RawMio Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Thanks, again, to RawMio for providing me with your amazing Hazelnut Spread. I'm hooked, and I can't wait to try some new flavors! 

Note: While the RawMio spread was provided free of charge, the opinions and idea reflected in this article are solely mine. This stuff is seriously DELISH!