Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Grilled Pizzas

 Before we get into talking about gooey and sweet dessert pizza I need to thank you for being such awesome grill buddies. We have come to the final week of Get Grillin’, Cookin’ Canuckand I had a blast collaborating with you for our first virtual summer BBQ. We have worked our way through 5 weeks of savory and now we get to talk about everyone’s favorite part of the meal…dessert!

Chocolate and cherries are a match made in heaven. Add ricotta cheese, nuts, pizza dough and the fire from your grill. Pure Magic.

We launched our grill event with Rouxbe and we are pleased to share  them with you again. If you ever thought about going to cooking school here is your chance. We have a one year ($240 value!) Rouxbe membership for a lucky Get Grillin’ participant. This will give you full access to their wonderful cooking school. More on this below.

Don’t cherries just scream summer? Whenever I go to the market these days I come home with at least a pound of beautiful bright red cherries. We love them out of hand and also in our favorite recipes. Cherry Cranberry Oat Crisp and Chocolate Crepes with Cherry Jam and Ricotta Cheese are two you should try. They are great for any time of day, breakfast, dessert or snacks.

If I told you that the combo of cherries and chocolate put a little swagger in my step would you believe me? Well you should. This is happy food.

Topping these pizza’s with a handful of your favorite nuts give a nice little crunch.

Extra chocolate sauce doesn’t hurt either.

I got into the whole sweet pizza thing a few weeks ago and now I am addicted. Remember myBerry and Goat Cheese Pizza? Have you tried those yet? If not then you must. These a are sweeter than those, but not overly sweet. Make ‘em as sweet as you want.

If you want a sweeter dessert serve with a side of chocolate sauce, lightly sweetened whipped cream, ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Can I show you my favorite new chocolate? When it comes to chocolate I prefer the darkest of the dark.

I was in Mother’s Market the other day and stumbled upon this 91% organic dark chocolate by Theo. The flavor is wonderful and it has the slightest hint of sweetness. Isn’t the wrapper beautiful? You can use your favorite chocolate in this recipe. Semi-sweet, milk or even white would be delicious.

I have been enjoying these for mini meals too. You can find me at my local Starbucks after I drop the kids off at camp with a tall Americano and a Chocolate Cherry Ricotta Pizza. Better than tearing open a power bar don’t you think?

They are also great for breakfast. If that’s the case then I whip up a side of eggs too for a protein boost. Also a side of applesauce. Breakfast is a big and grand event for me, as you know.

Have you ever made a grilled pizza? What are your favorite desserts for summer entertaining? Do you love chocolate as much as I do?

Ingredients

• 1 pound Whole Wheat or Gluten Free Pizza Dough, divided into 8 portions
• Sunflower Oil or Cooking Spray
• 10 ounces fat free Ricotta Cheese
• Vanilla, Plain or English Toffee Stevia Drops to taste
• optional: a few drops of pure Vanilla or Almond extract
• 2 ounces chopped Chocolate
• 1 cup Cherries, pitted
• a few ounces chopped Nuts, Almonds, Pistachios, Walnuts, Pecans, etc.

• Melted Chocolate for extra sauce
• fresh Mint
• more chopped Nuts
• powdered Sugar or Stevia, granulated Truvia is really good on these
• fresh Homemade Whipped Cream
• a pinch of Cinnamon

Method

• Before heating the grill brush the grates with some oil or cooking spray. Pre heat to medium high heat. Mix ricotta cheese with your sweetener of choice and any flavored extract to taste. Have cherries, chocolate, and nuts in separate bowls. Flatten pizza dough into 1/4 inch disks. Lightly oil each side of the dough with a brush or your hands. Have all ingredients in easy reach of your grill.
• Grill pizza dough for about 2 minutes on each side with the grill top open. It will puff up and you will get grill marks. Reduce heat to medium and flip pizzas with tongs, grill for one minute and remove from the grill. Top each piece of flattened dough with some ricotta, cherries, chocolate and nuts. Put pizzas back on the grill, close lid and cook for about 2-3 more minutes until the chocolate is melted. Serve warm with any extra toppings, sauces, ice cream etc.

• Make your own pizza dough or Trader Joe’s has a great whole wheat one that we use often. I have some pizza dough recipe links at the bottom of this post.
• Instead of mini pizzas you can also make one larger one and slice it up.
• I sweeten the ricotta cheese with stevia drops you can also use honey, maple syrup or your favorite natural sweetener to taste.

Source : familyfreshcooking