I had a few friends over last Sunday to grill up some pizzas and I had this idea for an apricot dessert pizza. Let me tell you – this idea did not go over well, but I pressed on anyway.
After stretching out the dough, I stirred together mascarpone, some really good-quality whole milk ricotta, and apricot preserves to serve as the base layer. After slicing up the apricots and getting them on the pizza, it looked a little bland, so I threw on some blueberries that I had in the fridge. I popped that sucker on the grill, closed the lid and hoped for the best.
Well, let me just say that this pizza was the absolute hit of the party! The crust was beautifully golden brown with nice bits of char. The apricots themselves were amazing – sweet and tart at the same time and you could taste the caramelization starting in the sugars – the addition of the blueberries provided little bursts of sweet to round it all out. Give this a try the next time you grill up some pizza!
- 1 pound pizza dough
- Polenta or cornmeal for dusting peel
- ⅓ cup mascarpone cheese
- ⅓ cup whole milk ricotta
- 3 tablespoons apricot preserves
- 6 apricots, sliced in to ⅛ths
- A handful of fresh blueberries
- Crank up grill for high indirect heat. Set pizza stone so it’s not over the flame. and heat grill to at least 400°F to 450°F. It will take some time to get it that hot, so don’t get too far ahead of yourself.
- Stretch or roll out pizza dough to about 14-inches. Scatter a big pinch of cornmeal over a wooden pizza peel or rimless cookie sheet and and lay down your crust. give the peel a little shake to make sure the pizza slides. If not add a little more polenta under the crust. Stir together the mascarpone, ricotta, and apricot preserves and then spread it over the crust. Arrange apricot slices over the pizza and scatter with blueberries.
- Slide the pizza onto the hot pizza stone and close the grill cover for about 8 to 12 minutes (depending how hot your grill is) or until crust is golden brown and blistered and the cheese mixture is bubbling. Remove from grill, slice, serve, and enjoy.
Cheers and Happy Grilling!
~ Jeff
I hope you plan on making this at the Burger Battle in San Diego! Wow! I am suddenly starving!
I will definitely be making a version of this in San Diego at the Bull Burger Battle. I really was an amazing pizza!
Wow … awesome Chef Jeff
Thanks…It’s really good! 😉