Dessert Pizza

Positively the most decadent dessert I've ever created... I LOVE IT!!!

INGREDIENTS

INGREDIENTSBase:

• 2 cups almonds

• 1 1/2 cups pitted dates

• 1/3 cup cacao powder

• 1 – 2 Tbsp water

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• Pinch sea salt

Caramel Spread:

• 3/4 cup pitted dates, soaked (or 3/4 cup medjool dates, pitted)

• 3 Tbsp maple syrup

• 2 Tbsp coconut oil

• 1/2 Tbsp almond butter

• Pinch sea salt

Choc Chips:

• 80g cacao butter, melted

• 1/4 cup cacao powder

• 2 Tbsp rice malt syrup

Extras:

• 2-3 Tbsp thick coconut cream, chilled

• 1 banana, sliced

• 2 Tbsp shredded coconut

• 1 Tbsp goji berries

• 2 Tbsp macadamia nuts, chopped
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Line a pizza tray with baking paper.

2. To make the base, place the almonds and sea salt into a food processor and process until finely ground. If your food processor can’t handle grinding nuts, use almond meal instead.

3. Add the remaining base ingredients and process on medium speed until the mixture sticks together.It should look quite crumbly but become firm once you press ittogether between two fingers. Press the mixture evenly into the pizza tray and freeze.

4. Place all of the caramel spread ingredients into a food processor and process onmedium speed for 3 – 5 minutes until very smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor at regular intervals to make sure all ingredients are well blended.

5. Spoon the mixture on top of the base, starting from the middle and working your way out. Leave a 1 – 2cm border – this will become the ‘crust’. Place the base back into the freezer.

6. Place all of the choc chip ingredients into a bowl and whisk together with a fork, until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag (or a syringe works well too) and pipe small drops ofmixture onto grease-proof paper. Freeze until hard. Alternatively, you can pour the chocolate into a container lined with baking paper so itis 1cm thick. Once hard, chop the chocolate into small chunks.

7. Place all of the chocolate sauce ingredients into a food processor and process on high for 3 minutes, or until very smooth. Place into a piping bag and refrigerate while you whip up the coconut cream.

8. Check to make sure your can of coconut cream does NOT contain any emulsifiers – ifit does, it won’t separate from the coconut water and therefore will remain runny. The only ingredients you want to see on your can is coconut extract and water. I like Honest to Goodness’s Organic Coconut Cream.

9. Chill the can in the fridge for at least 4 hours. When you’re ready to whip it, turn the can over and open it from the bottom. Drain out the coconut water and spoon the thick coconut cream into a chilled bowl. Whip with an electric hand beater until fluffy.

10. Slice the banana and place evenly over the caramel spread.

11. Spoon a generous amount of the coconut cream onto the middle of the pizza (I used about 1/3 of the can).

12. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the entire pizza.

13. Using a piping bag (or easier still – a snap-lock bag with the corner snipped off), drizzle the chocolate sauce over the pizza.

14. Sprinkle the pizza with any other desired extras, like goji berries, shredded coconut and macadamia nuts.

15. Cut into pizza slices and try notto moan as you eat it!

TAMARAS' TIP:

1. Dessert Pizza is best served immediately, but can be put back into the freezer and saved for later.

2. Just be aware that the banana and coconut cream will become very hard and will needto thaw for about 15 mins before servin
   

This recipe is featured in the Sweets & Treats eBook, along with 50 others nutritiously raw snacks.

A Word from Tamara Lee I'm not even going to pretend that this recipe is healthy. It's really not. But it's a far cry healthier than the original recipe that inspired this creation, so bare with me for just a minute. I first came across the recipe for Caramel Choc Chip Pizza on Facebook, and it looked so decadent that I had quite the chuckle reading through the ingredients of 'sugar-free cookies and 'sugar-free caramel sauce'... It's funny just how many people think that labelling a food sugar-free my default means it's healthy. In most packaged foods, 'sugar-free' either means 'packed full of chemicals' or 'tastes like crap.' It's pretty darn rare to find a genuine sugar-free food that tastes good, unless you're looking in the fresh fruit department. ​ I know how much everyone loves sugar (I do anyway!) but instead of gorging on packets of lollies or even worse, fake chemical sugar, I always choose something raw. Raw Desserts generally contain nuts or seeds (or both), and the fat content helps to lower blood sugar levels that would otherwise have been spiked, even when eating natural sugars. Because of this high fat content, raw desserts also fill you up. It's much easier to stick to correct portion size when you're eating real food. Gone are the days when I would binge on a whole pack on M&M's and still crave more. It's a very sad fact that food companies are beginning to manipulate the way our food is made, adding all kinds of chemicals to trick our body into wanting more. Recent studies demonstrate that excessive sugar consumption (primarily fructose) renders us leptin resistant (1). A leptin-resistant state causes the body to store energy, and put on weight. It's no wonder we're facing an obesity epidemic! At present, 63% of the adult population is overweight or obese (2). That's 2 in 3!! Sheeesh. So, I choose to live by the JERF mentality (Just Eat Real Food). You can eats treats, just make sure they contain actual food ingredients and you'll be fine. On the plus side - Dessert Pizza will give you a decent serve of protein, iron and fibre, so it's not that bad... Just don't eat it every day ;)