Fresh, juicy, red strawberries. Finally, they're back in season! Straight out of college, I got my first job in a town in Florida called Plant City. It's claim to fame is being "The Strawberry Capital of the World". I do have to admit, they were phenomenal strawberries. So now, every time I go to the supermarket to buy strawberries I look to see if they're from Plant City. Most of the time they're not since I live in California. When in season, the ones out here in Cali are good too, but there's just something about those Plant City strawberries that made them extra juicy and sweet. If you happen to be in the area, the Florida Strawberry Festival goes on from March 3-13, 2011. The California Strawberry Festival will be held May 21-22, 2011 in Oxnard.
Strawberry pizza, that's what I decided to make for our monthly bunco night. I found the original version of this recipe in my favorite magazine, Cuisine at Home. I highly recommend getting a subscription (and no, I was not paid to say this!). I don't think I've ever been disappointed with any of their recipes. Most of the time they aren't too weird either. Some cooking magazines try to get too fancy and creative and have you running around to all the supermarkets trying to find obscure ingredients. Not Cuisine at Home, they use every day ingredients, for the most part, to create mouthwatering recipes that are never to disappoint.
There were a couple things I changed. For some reason, my shortbread dough was too wet so I had to add an extra 1/3 cup of flour. It was enough extra flour to make it spreadable without making a gooey mess all over my hands. Also, instead of using mascarpone cheese, I used a substitute I found on Judy's Kitchen that consisted of cream cheese, sour cream and heavy cream. It tasted great in the finished strawberry pizza.
I loved this dessert. Next time, I think I'll make only half the amount of shortbread dough so that it is thinner. A few friends and I agreed that we got full on the crust. Regardless, it was still fantastic!
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| Spread dough out onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. |
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| Spread cream cheese mixture on top of shortbread crust. |
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| Fresh slice strawberries, mmm! |
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| Strawberry Pizza....ready to cut and eat! |
