Episode Seven: Coconut Berry Pizza

On the same night I made the Beef Ragu with Ravioli, I also made dessert, taken again from the Taste of Home website.  Fruit pizza is one of my favorite desserts in the whole world, and previously I had made it with a cream cheese/sugar spread (with a little food coloring for effect!) over a large sheet of store-bought sugar cookie.  While that method is certainly tasty, I found this to be a bit more elegant, and probably at least a tiny bit healthier.

Coconut Berry Pizza
1 sheet puff pastry
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons seedless raspberry jam
1 carton (8 oz.) frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 medium kiwifruit, peeled and sliced
1-1/3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
1-1/3 cups each: fresh raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries
1/2 cup flaked coconut, toasted


Preparation:
1. Prepare puff pastry according to directions on the box: Thaw, then roll flat into the desired shape.  Press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased pan.  Bake as directed, cool on a wire rack.


2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, beat the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and jam until smooth.  Fold in whipped topping.  Spread over crust.  Arrange fruit over top.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Chill until serving.


I have to admit something:  I just lied to you.  The recipe called for 2 tubes of crescent rolls, not puff pastry.  But as I mentioned in a previous blog, Pilsbury (and generally all other mock products) tends to add some flavor items even to unflavored crescents.  Plus, puff pastry is yummy.  The only problem is that it shrunk a lot, and puffed A LOT (but I suppose... it is puff pastry...).  Therefore, the spread-to-pastry ratio was way too high, and it made the dessert a bit heavy.  But not so heavy that I couldn't eat a whole lot of it!


This recipe was amazing.  Despite the overload of topping in each bite, there was also an overload of fruit in each bite.  My only real complaint is actually having to do with the pastry itself - there seemed to be a bit of a bitter aftertaste following a bite consisting of mostly pastry.  So next time, I might consider trying the crescent roll option and seeing how that fares in comparison.  I'm not completely sold, but I'll give it a shot anyway.


Another note - I did not toast the coconut.  It tasted fine anyway, but I bet the toasting would have changed the flavor a little bit.


Looks like the newb is gaining experience points...


Newb: 5  Food: 2  Ricotta: 1


♥ Ashley