Strawberry Cheesecake Pizza

So, I watched a show on Food Network the other day called Outrageous Food. (bad idea...don't ever watch anything like that!!) One of the things they showed was a pizza place that does over 60 kinds of pizza plus dessert pizzas. Really creative things like Mac'n'Cheese Pizza, Baked Potato Pizza and any other combination of things you could think of!! That had me interested. Then they started talking about their dessert pizza's and their chocolate pizza dough. If I wasn't hooked on the show, I was now!! I was ALL EARS!! And eyes :). They made a "dirt" dessert pizza with the chocolate dough, chocolate pudding, crumbled up oreos and worms. I saw other things on there, one of which was a strawberry cheesecake pizza. Y.U.M!! So after the show was over, google became my best friend. I found a recipe for this delightful treat and decided to try it out. Plus, I already had all the ingredients on hand so I figured that was a sign :) It was Delicious!!! I really enjoy cheesecake, but I enjoyed that this wasn't as dense and heavy as cheesecake. I made it for my birthday (a little strange to make your own birthday dessert, but it was so worth it!!). It was a pretty easy thing, not too time consuming, and worth sharing the recipe!! I'm sure this will be repeated at some point :)

For something fun with it...you could throw some blueberries on there and you'd have a tasty and festive treat for 4th of July. Here's the recipe :) Enjoy and indulge sometime...

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Filling

• 8 ounces light cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 cups fresh strawberries
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups crushed strawberries

Total Time: 1 hrDirections

1. 1. Cream together margarine and 1/2 cup sugar. Beat for two minutes. Beat in egg and extracts.
2. 2. Combine flour, baking powder and salkt. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
3. 3. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour. Then, on a floured surface, roll doll into a 13-in circle.
4. 4. Transfer to pizza pan (the recipe says ungreased but I used Pam).
5. 5. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 - 22 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.
6. 6. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread over crust. Slice two cups of the strawberries and arrange sliced strawberries on top.
7. 7. In a saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and crushed berries until blended. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. (It wouldn't boil for me, I just cooked it for about 5 minutes until it was nice and thick). Cool slightly. Spoon over strawberries. I spooned it over the strawberries just before we ate it instead of cooling it on there, but you can probably do it either way.
8. 8. Refrigerate until serving