Killing two birds with one “stone”;) using the same key ingredient in both sweet + savory pizzas! The paleo pizza crust in this recipe works not only for this savory Pesto Chicken Cherry Pizza but also for this Sweet Almond Cherry Pizza. I bet you guessed the key ingredient??!! CHERRIES!! They work beautifully for both of these delicious pizza pies!
This post was inspired by Eva Kosmas Flores! If you haven’t heard of Eva please check her out!! I first found out about Eva through my neighbor. She mentioned these Secret Suppers that pop up in our neck of the woods! It was love at first photo! These dinners are absolutely beautiful! It would be a dream to go but they sell out pretty fast + are pretty spendy!
Eva is a co-host of @oursecretsupper! I soon discovered her food blog (a must-see!) + she has a whole website dedicated to helping photographers + food bloggers alike! I was just getting my blog going and knew her online class would be helpful. The class happened to be on sale so I was able to take the plunge + invest in my blog.
Not only does she do all that but she also does live classes…including destination workshops! I dreamt of going to the one in France; however, finances didn’t allow. I was so excited when I found out she was doing a workshop in Portland!! Eva is from the PNW too! And the workshop was around my birthday!! My sweet husband gave me the okay and I’m so excited to be attending her class soon!! + She seems super sweet…she has been great about answering my questions!
The information in her online course has been so helpful! She even has homework assignments for each lesson. I do admit that I am way behind on finishing the class…bad student!! I thought since I’m going to her live workshop I darn better finish the online course! It’s also one of those courses that I believe I will keep going back to + am so thankful + blessed to have this valuable information from Eva.
The homework assignment for the Recipe Development lesson was to come up with + shoot two different recipes…one sweet and one savory, with the same main ingredient!
After cherry-picking with my hubby we had lots of sweet cherries so I thought this was the perfect ingredient that could be used for both sweet + savory!
The credit for the Almond Cherry Pizza goes to Eva…she had just posted a recipe for a Cherry Galette with Almond Cream and I thought this would be perfect…I just switch out her crust for a paleo pizza crust + made it dairy-free!! I debated on even posting this recipe here since but thought since I photographed it I my as well! + Absolutely no hard feelings if gluten + dairy aren’t an issue and you make Eva’s version;)!!
Now I wish I could tell you that the paleo pizza crust recipe here is mine…but I have made this crust from Paleo Running Momma at least a few times and it always is good + it’s super easy! Why re-invent the wheel, right?? My husband says there’s actually a term for this in engineering…they call it “baselining”. I just changed a few ingredients for each recipe to make it work for the sweet + savory pizzas!
So I actually was killing three birds with one stone…dinner, dessert + homework complete!! That was a great day!!
I am definitely learning on this blogging adventure that I can’t do it alone + I need all the help I can get!! If you are just getting started in blogging or wanting to but haven’t taken the mind-plunge yet I highly recommend that you check out Eva! Even if you have no interest in being a food blogger or photographer I highly recommend that you check her out…@evakosmasflores + @oursecretsupper is bound to inspire you!!
I hope that wherever you are at on your journey in life that you are never afraid to learn something new + ask for help along the way (something that I’m still learning;)!
Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow. -Anthony J. D’Angelo.
Pesto Chicken Cherry Pizza {Paleo, GF, DF}
Equipment
- Pizza Stone
Ingredients
Paleo Pizza Crust
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch + more for spreading
- 6 tbsp coconut flour-divided into 3 (first) and 3 (after adding the egg)
- 3/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra for drizzling on pizza
- 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 room temp egg, whisked
Pesto Chicken Cherry Pizza
- favorite pesto (I used this* one…using a mixture of arugula, spinach + basil for a total of 2 cups greens per the recipe)
- rotisserie/roasted chicken (I used pre-roasted boneless skinless chicken thighs), shredded. Pile on as much as you desire!
- 1 handful cherries, pitted + halved
- fresh arugula + basil for top of pizza
- extra virgin olive oil for drizzling on top of pizza
- sea salt for sprinkling on top of pizza
Instructions
Paleo Pizza Crust
- Place a pizza stone in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degress.
- In a large mixing bowl combine almond flour, tapioca or arrowroot, 3 Tbsp of the coconut flour, + salt. Whisk to combine and break up any large lumps from the almond/coconut flour.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup whisk the warm water, olive oil, + vinegar.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry + mix until a dough forms. Add in the whisked egg + stir well to get a sticky mixture.
- 1 tbsp at a time, add in the coconut flour, stirring well after each addition and letting the dough sit a minute to let the coconut flour absorb to the liquid. You may not need all 3 additional tbsp…you just need a dough that's still a little sticky but you can spread out. Don't add more than the 3 tbsp even if the dough seems too sticky…the extra tapioca/arrowroot will help when spreading the dough on the parchment paper.
- Place dough on a sheet of parchment dusted in a little tapioca/arrowroot powder. Spread dough out with your hands. Sprinkle a little more tapioca/arrowroot on top of pizza dough + top with another piece of parchment paper. Roll out dough with a rolling pin to a 10-12 inch circle. This dough can be challenging to get done in the center so make sure the inside is thinner than the edges. 12 inches will make a thinner pizza but will help center of pizza get done.
- Place parchment paper on pizza stone + cook for 10 minutes. Take out of oven + set on a heat-proof surface and continue with Pesto Chicken Cherry Recipe below.
Pesto Chicken Cherry Pizza
- When pizza dough has cooked for 10 minutes…spread on pesto, top with chicken + then cherries. Place back in oven for another 5-10 minutes until bottom of pizza is dark golden. Check with a spatula to make sure. You want to make sure the center gets done so the longer you can cook without burning the better…frequently checking at end of cooking time to make sure you are not burning!
- Take parchment out of oven + set on a heat-proof surface. While still warm top pizza with arugula, basil, then drizzle with olive oil + sprinkle with sea salt.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Sweet Almond Cherry Pizza {Paleo, GF, DF}
Equipment
- Pizza Stone
Ingredients
Sweet Dessert Paleo Pizza Crust
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch + more for spreading
- 6 tbsp coconut flour-divided into 3 (first) and 3 (after adding the egg)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1.3 cup extra virgin olive oil + extra for drizzling on pizza
- 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 room temp egg, whisked
Sweet Almond Cherry Pizza
- 1 recipe sweet dessert paleo pizza dough
- 1/4 cup almond meal (I ground 1/4 cup raw almonds into a food processor).
- 2 scant tbsp virgin coconut oil at room temp
- 3 tbsp honey (1 tbsp reserved for cherries)
- 1 large egg @ room temp
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract + 1/4 tsp to mix in with cherries
- 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted + halved (helpful to use a glass measuring cup that way you can add flavorings)
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
Instructions
Sweet Dessert Paleo Pizza Dough
- Place a pizza stone in the oven. Preheat oven to 450 degress.
- In a large mixing bowl combine almond flour, tapioca or arrowroot, 3 Tbsp of the coconut flour, salt + cinnamon. Whisk to combine and break up any large lumps from the almond/coconut flour.
- In a small bowl or measuring cup whisk the warm water, olive oil, vinegar + honey.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry + mix until a dough forms. Add in the whisked egg + stir well to get a sticky mixture.
- 1 tbsp at a time, add in the coconut flour, stirring well after each addition and letting the dough sit a minute to let the coconut flour absorb to the liquid. You may not need all 3 additional tbsp…you just need a dough that's still a little sticky but you can spread out. Don't add more than the 3 tbsp even if the dough seems too sticky…the extra tapioca/arrowroot will help when spreading the dough on the parchment paper.
- Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Sweet Almond Cherry Pizza
- Place pizza stone in the oven + preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- While the dough is chilling make almond filling. In a medium bowl beat together with the coconut oil, almond meal, 2 tbsp of honey, the egg, and 1/4 teaspoon of the vanilla extract until a little more pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes at medium speed (mine didn't get very fluffy or really pale when beating but filling did rise + get firm after baking). Set almond filling aside.
- In the glass measure cup with the cherries add remaining 1 tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp vanilla, + cinnamon until cherries are all coated.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator.
- Sprinkle extra tapioca or arrowroot on a sheet of parchment paper no smaller than 12 inches. Lightly sprinkle tapioca/arrowroot on the parchment paper. Sprinkle a bit more tapioca/arrowroot on pizza dough and top with another piece of parchment. Roll dough with rolling pin to a 12in circle making sure that the edges are slightly higher than the middle so the middle gets done. This dough can be challenging to get the center done.
- Spread the almond filling in a thin layer* across on the bottom of pizza crust, leaving a 1-inch border around the edges of the crust. Place the cherries, cut side down, in concentric circles on top of the almond filling. Fold the empty crust edge over the filling (the paleo dough can be challenging to work with here. Helpful to using the parchment paper to help you fold the edges over). Spread soft/melted coconut oil around edges of crust.
- Bake in the oven until the crust is golden and the cherries have wrinkled slightly, about 25 minutes**.
- Remove parchment paper with pizza from the oven + place cooling rack + allow to cool for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
- Enjoy!
Not only did I enjoy the meal, but the time spent together picking the cherries was really fun!
Thanks honey:)
Thanks so much for joining the workshop!! It was such a blast having you there and I loved getting to know you + shoot together <3
Aww, thank you so much Eva! The feeling is definitely mutual! You are a great teacher…learned so much and such a great time!!:)