Strawberry Pizza

What you'll need:

Crust
- 1 1/2 cups of flour
- 1/2 cup (1 cube) of butter; softened
- 1/4 cup of powdered sugar


Filling
- 8 oz of Cool Whip; thawed
- 8 oz of cream cheese; room temperature
- 1/2 cup of sugar


Topping
- 3 1/2 cups of sliced strawberries; fresh
- 1 container of strawberry glaze


This is my absolute favorite dessert, especially during strawberry season. Just within the last two weeks, I've made two and they were gone the next day. My roommates devoured it! And quite a few people have asked for the recipe, so here it is!

This recipe isn't very complicated, but there are some little tricks that will help make it even better! First preheat your oven 350 degrees. Then you'll need a pizza pan; I used a disposable 10 inch aluminum pan for easy clean-up. Mix the 1 1/2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup of softened butter (if the butter isn't soft enough, or you are as impatient as I am, you can throw the butter into the microwave on a very low power - 2 or 3 - for about 2 minutes), and 1/4 cup of powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. The batter will be very crumbly and loose; don't worry! That's how its supposed to be! After you mixed the crust together, pour it into the pizza pan. Because of the butter in the crust, you don't have to worry about putting any type of nonstick spray on the pan. Spread the crumbly crust evenly on the pizza pan and flatten it with your hand. You want to make sure you compact it completely, or the crust will break and crumble very easily when you try to serve it and makes a big mess. It helps to put all your weight onto it by standing on your tippy-toes. After you have the crust flattened and compacted, you want to be very careful and place the crust into the oven. You'll want to bake for 10 to 12 minutes or the top is a nice golden brown color. Once it comes out of the oven, you'll want it to cool completely; I threw mine in the freezer for a few minutes (again, I am very impatient).

While the crust is cooling, you'll want to start the filling. With another mixing bowl, you'll want to mix (I recommend using a whisk) 8 oz of thawed Cool Whip, 8 oz of room temp. cream cheese, and 1/2 cup of sugar. Important! Make sure that the Cool Whip is thawed and the cream cheese is room temperature, because the Cool Whip is hard to work with when it is frozen and the cream cheese will cause the filling to be clumpy instead of the smooth texture that you want. Once you have whisked the filling smooth and the crust is cool, plop the filling on top of the crust and spread it evenly on the crust. Licking the spoon after you spread it is recommended as well (my roommate had a heyday licking the bowl when I was finished) :)

For the topping, wash, dry, and cut bite-size pieces of strawberries. Measure 3 1/2 cups of the sliced strawberries and place them in another bowl (yes, there will be a number of dishes once you are done). Now you just need to mix the container of strawberry glaze with the fresh, sliced strawberries; I used Marie's strawberry glaze, but you can use type you like. Once all the strawberries are beautifully glazed, pour the glazed strawberry mixture on top of the crust and filling and spread evenly. You may want to go spoonful (instead of pour the entire thing at once) at a time to make sure every bite gets a delicious strawberry.

Once your dessert is complete, you'll want to place it in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes, this allows for the flavors to meld. After that is done, cut the perfect slice and ENJOY!

I'm almost positive that my aunt was the one who introduced me to strawberry pizza, so thank you Aunt Sharon!

Until next time,
- The College Baker

Strawberry Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

What you'll need:

- Pillsbury Pink Lemonade Cake Mix

- 1 cup of water

- 1/3 cup of oil

- 3 whole eggs (alternative: 4 egg whites)

- 5-6 fresh strawberries

- Your favorite frosting 

After a misty and muggy morning, and a round of classes, I decided to buckle down and bake. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am a "stress baker," which means I love to bake when I am stressed about something (it usually takes my mind off of it). That doesn't seem to be the case today, I just wanted to bake something. So after a little trip to the grocery store and picking up my special ingredient (strawberries), I began my baking extravaganza! 

I didn't make anything complicated today, I just used a good ol' box of Pillsbury Pink Lemonade cake mix. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees (my oven takes a year to warm up... damn thing). For the batter you'll need: 1 cup of water, 1/3 cup of oil (I like Crisco Veggie oil), and 3 whole eggs (or 4 egg whites if you want to be healthier). Its quite simple; all you need to do is whisk the dry cake mix and wet ingredients together for about 2 minutes (don't worry there will be a little bit of clumps still). Then pour your batter into the cupcake/muffin pan; don't forget to line the pan with cupcake liners (mine happen to be a halloween-polka dot mixture). After pouring the batter in the pan, about a 2/3 of the way full (a 1/3 cup measurer helps get the right amount into the little cups), you'll need to wash, dry, and cut up your strawberries into little bit-size pieces and stick them into the batter in each individual cupcake. This adds flavor and a little bit of fruit to the treat! 

Once the oven is preheated, stick them into the oven for 18-22 minutes. Since I added fruit into the batter, I kept them into the oven for 21 minutes and they came out perfect! Let them cool on a cooling rack before you frost them (or the frosting will melt and go everywhere). I used Pillsbury Whipped Supreme Confetti Vanilla frosting; plus it came with sprinkles. You can never go wrong with sprinkles. 

And voila! You just made a modified pink lemonade cupcake!

My mom always told me that when you cook or bake, you can stray from the recipe and modify it to your liking! So don't be afraid to try something new when you are cooking. You may just like it :) Enjoy!

- The College Baker