Tasty Tuesday - Fruit Pizza

I made this fruit pizza for Mary Abilene's birthday party. Personally, I thought it was delicious. So did my hubby, my baby, and my neighbor's baby! I got several other compliments from adults, especially about the crust. My husband thinks the crust would be a good energy bar if I stiffened it up a bit.

The recipe I found is vegan and gluten free. I really wanted a fruit pizza without cream cheese since I was serving a ton of cream cheese frosting already. I kept my pizza vegan, but used wheat flour instead of rice flour. I made this pizza in practice and then made the pudding three times before getting it right. Give this recipe a try for your next party or pot luck!

Fruit Pizza

FOR THE CRUST
1/2 cup coconut oil (alternatively, may substitute 1/4 the cup of coconut oil for butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry (or all purpose) flour
1/2 cup oat flour (I just processed some oats in my food processor)
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup ground or finely chopped pecans or almonds (again chopped in the food processor)
1 mashed banana

FOR THE FILLING
You can use full-fat coconut milk in a can or can use Silk or So Delicious brands coconut milk (sweetened) that come in the half gallon for drinking. If you use sweetened coconut milk, only add 1 tbsp sugar instead of 3. I used Silk Coconut Milk because I found the canned coconut milk to be a little weird in texture after it turned into a pudding.

2 cups coconut milk
3 tbsp cane sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
fruit for topping (strawberries, kiwis, bananas, canned sliced peaches, canned mandarin segments, raspberries, blueberries, or whatever else you have on hand)

To make the crust, melt coconut oil, then blend in sugar. Add flours, oats, pecans, and the mashed banana. Using your hands, spread onto a pizza pan until it is a thin layer. Bake at 375°F until the edges brown (around 10 minutes). Because of the banana, this crust is a bit cakier and takes longer to bake. After the edges browned, I used the broiler to crisp up and brown the top of the crust, which took just a few minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

For the filling, add cornstarch and sugar to a medium-sized pot. Pour coconut milk in and set the heat to medium. Stir well with a whisk. Stir continuously until the mixture starts to thicken and finally boil. Continue stirring one minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and vanilla. Allow to cool before spreading it onto the crust. It will thicken up a little more when it has been refrigerated.

After spreading the coconut milk onto the crust, decorate with your fruit toppings as desired.

Cover the whole pizza with saran wrap and chill until set, probably at least overnight is best.