Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza
Dorcas Annette Walker

Like his older brother, Eric, Aaron Hines has curly red hair. Now that Aaron has grown as tall as Eric people often get them mixed up. There is one definite factor that sets them apart. No matter how serious or grown up Aaron tries to look he can’t hide his mischievous nature. Aaron believes in playing as hard as he works. So I shouldn’t have been shocked when I was shown a picture of him hanging off the edge of a rock bluff with nothing but thousands of feet of air beneath him- I was assured that it wasn’t as bad as it looked- nor hanging midair from the bottom of the second highest bridge here in Tennessee that our area is noted for. I could only hope that his mother would be sitting down when she saw the pictures. Being an outdoors type of guy, Aaron wasn’t exactly enamored at the thought of cooking. He reluctantly washed his hands and started mixing up the ingredients I put into the large bowl, but brightened up when I handed him an egg to crack. Aaron briskly stirred up the dough despite the few pieces of egg shells that remained. After flattening out the cookie dough on the pizza pan, I showed Aaron how to make a zigzag edge. Intrigued he carefully finished off the edge. He was rather startled when I told him he had to time his pizza so it wouldn’t burn up after sliding the pizza into the oven. The cookie crust was rescued in the nick of time. Since the fellows had plans for the night I told Aaron we’d finish up his pizza the next day. Saturday afternoon after stretching some fence line along the back of our property, before they headed off town, I reminded Aaron that his pizza needed to be finished so we could have it for dessert at supper. As he started spreading layers of cream cheese filling and pudding on the top of the cookie crust, Dwight and Eric started drooling as they saw Aaron build his pizza. As a finishing touch I poured some chocolate chips into his hand to sprinkle on top of the cool whip. Holding a handful of chocolate chips Aaron suddenly remembered- to my horror and the guy’s great amusement- that he hadn’t washed his hands. He tried to assure me that no one would notice any dirt as the chocolate chips were dark anyway. Dwight nearly doubled over shouting with laughter. Thankfully no stomachs had to be pumped after eating Aaron’s masterpiece that evening. To the fellows Aaron’s dirty hands was the highlight of their entire cooking adventure.

Natural brown sugar is a name for raw sugar processed from the first crystallization of cane and is free of dyes and chemicals. Many brown sugar producers today produce brown sugar by combining molasses to white sugar, which gives it the soft texture. The molasses is usually obtained from sugar cane because the flavor is preferred over beet sugar molasses, although the Netherlands use sugar beet molasses. Brown sugar has a slightly lower calorie value than white sugar due to the presence of water, but is higher in mineral content because of the molasses. The lighter the brown sugar the more delicate flavor while the darker had a more intense molasses flavor. Light and dark brown sugar is available year-round sold in plastic bags that are sealed tightly. One cup of packed brown sugar equals one cup of granulated sugar.

This Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza is a rich and filling dessert. The flavors of chocolate and peanut butter mixed with a cream cheese filling are a luscious combination that guarantees an instant success. Aaron’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza was eaten up the second day. This Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza recipe takes only thirty minutes to prepare and serves sixteen.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pizza

Crust:
2 c self-rising flour
½ c sugar
½ c brown sugar
½ tsp cream of tartar
½ c peanut butter (smooth or chunky)
½ c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
Mix ingredients together thoroughly in a large bowl and spread out on a greased pizza pan. Bake at 350º for ten minutes and cool.

Beat together until smooth:
1 pkg cream cheese
½ c powdered sugar
½ of a 16 oz container of cool whip
Layer over the cooled peanut butter cookie crust.

Prepare one box of instant chocolate pudding as directed and spread over cream cheese layer. Then spread the last half of the cool whip over the chocolate pudding. Garnish with chocolate chips or shaved chocolate curls. Chill and serve!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.