Fruit Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

THE pizza from the party... One I made a while ago with regular chocolate chip cookie dough. Closer to how the recipe dictates...

I made this for a gathering of some friends the other night and was bombarded with requests for the recipe. Even my hubby's cop buddy who got some of the leftovers requested it! And for good reason- it's hard to fail with cookies, cream cheese, fruit, or chocolate. But put them all together... Yeowsa! I was actually starting to make Chocolate Chocolate Chip cookies for the party, then I remembered this recipe and used the cookie dough to make this instead. Is it terrible that I was on the fence about going (it started a half hour before my baby goes to bed. I LOVE when my baby goes to bed....) until I realized it'd give me an excuse to make this? I actually have two variations, an easier one, and one that takes a half second more effort but is just a tad better. The one I followed was:

Fruit Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

1 (18 oz) pkg chocolate chip cookie dough (Alexa's recipe here)

2 squares white baking chocolate

2 tbsp milk

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/4 C powdered sugar

1 C thawed whipped topping

12-16 oz of strawberries, cut in half

1 can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/4 C semi sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape cookie dough into a ball and place in center of a large pizza stone. Using a lightly floured rolling pin {aka, my fingers...} roll dough into a 12 inch circle, about 1/4" thick. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set. Cookie will be soft, do not over bake. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Loosen cookie from pizza stone. Cool completely.

Place white chocolate and milk in small mixing bowl. Microwave on high 1 minute. Stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Microwave and additional 10-20 seconds if necessary. Cool slightly. In separate bowl combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture; mix until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over cookie. Arrange strawberries and oranges over cream cheese mixture. Microwave chocolate chips and oil on high 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over fruit. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

My variation

I used this recipe for the crust and made it in a greased cookie sheet, baked for about 7 minutes or until edges were set. I doubled the topping since it was such a large surface and then I added kiwi with the fruit. I think it the cookie base was so crumbly that night because it had been out of the fridge for a bit. After I put the leftovers back in the fridge, the cookie stayed firm as I kept piecing away at it....

Slightly easier, brownie version
1 box brownie mix

1 pkg cream cheese, softened

1/3 C sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C fresh strawberries, sliced

1 C blueberries, rinsed

1 C raspberries

1/2 C apple jelly

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 12 inch pizza pan. Prepare brownie mix according to directions on the package. Spread in the pan. Bake 28-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2" from edge comes out clean. Cool completely.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until smooth. Spread evenly over the brownie. Arrange berries over the cream cheese{these berries make a lovely American flag design.}. Stir jelly until smooth; brush over the berries. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Refrigerate leftovers.