Friday Night Pizza

Homemade pizza is one of the tastiest dinners ever!  (Or late night snack!!!)  And who doesn't like pizza anyway?  My awesome former roommate (from my Rice days) Lynsey and I had a tradition of Sunday Night Pizza Night.  For two years, we managed to do this almost every week (even in the craziest, most stressful times.  It somehow always gave us a brighter outlook on the week.  Sunday nights can sometimes be a bit of a drag...)!

Everyone has a favorite combination or two of toppings.  While Nicholas and I were on our "mini-moon," we had lunch one day at an Italian Pizzeria.  After looking over the menu a few times, debating and weighing the pros and cons of each pizza, we settled on a goat cheese pizza with balsamic onions and figs.  It was SO delicious!!!  Since then, we have been creating our own spin-off of this delicious creation each time we have homemade pizza.

We scarfed down these two pizzas tonight: Balsamic Red Onion and Fig Pizza with Goat Cheese and a classic Margarita Pizza!  Try something new next time you make pizza.  :)

Balsamic Red Onion and Fig Pizza with Goat Cheese
1 pizza crust (about 14")
2-3 tbs olive oil
4 - 8 oz fresh goat cheese
fresh spinach
1 red onion (thinly sliced)
1/4 - 1/3 cup sliced dried figs
3/4 - 1 cup balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to season

In a sauce pan, heat approx a 1/4 cup of olive oil on medium-high heat.  Once oil has heated, toss in onions and season with salt.  Saute down the onions for about 5-7 minutes before adding in balsamic.  Add about a 1/2 a cup of balsamic to the onions and stir.  Allow the onions to cook down for another 4-5 minutes.  Check to see if more balsamic should be added (and add if necessary).  Add in the figs and about a 1/4 cup more balsamic and stir in.  Allow figs to cook down.  Turn off heat and allow to cool until you're ready to use them.

On pizza crust (see recipe below if you'd like to made your pizza crusts from scratch), brush a light coating of olive oil (if you desire, you may decide to season with some garlic powder or fresh garlic).  Top with cheese then spinach.  It'll seem like a TON of spinach, but it'll cook down substantially once in the oven.  Put the cooked onions and figs on top of the spinach.  Season with salt and pepper if desired.

Bake at 400 or 425 for 11-14 minutes or until the crust is baked and the cheese is melted.  Let stand for a few minutes before cutting.

Classic Margarita Pizza
1 pizza crust (about 14")
12 oz mozzarella
1 - 2 medium tomatoes (thinly sliced)
fresh basil (as much or as little as you like!)
2 - 3 tbs olive oil
salt & pepper to season

Slice tomatoes (and remove excess water - patting down with paper towels is the easiest way!).  Julienne basil (or if you prefer, leave basil leaves whole).  Lightly brush pizza crust with olive oil.  Sprinkle some basil on the crust (reserving some for later).  Add most of the cheese on top, following with the tomatoes.  Toss extra cheese on top.  Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder if desired.

Bake on 400 or 425 for about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and top with extra basil.  Bake for another 3-5 minutes or until cheese is fully melted and crust is lightly golden brown.  Let cool for a few minutes before slicing.

Pizza Crust
1 cup warm water (temp of 105-110)
1 package yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 - 4 tbs olive oil
2 1/2 - 3 cups flour (use whole wheat if you desire)

In a bowl or stand mixer, combine water, yeast, salt, sugar, and 1 tbs olive oil and give a gentle stir.  Let this mixture rest for 10-15 minutes or until the yeast begins to react and bubble.

(Best in a stand mixer, using the dough hook), begin adding the flour, alternating with some olive oil, until everything comes together and forms a nice ball.  Remove dough from the bowl, cover lightly with olive oil and allow to double in size (this will take a couple of hours).  You can always skip the rising step, but your dough might start to bubble as you're pre-baking the crust.  :)

Divide dough into two equal balls.  On baking sheets, toss a little cornmeal (this will help the dough from sticking to the sheet - so much easier!).  Roll out dough (you can make it a little thicker or thinner depending on how your like your crust).  It's nice to pre-bake these for about 4-5 minutes each to give the crust a little bit of a head-start to you're not left with a slightly soggy crust under your pizza.

Fig Bars!! ... just like you remember from your childhood

Please raise your hand if you don't remember eating fig newton bars as a child!  Okay... if you're the only one if the room, then don't feel silly, because no one is looking.  If you're not the only one in the room, and well, you're raising your hand... then you MIGHT just be one of the few people that didn't enjoy these growing up.

Many, many times I have been grocery shopping and stopped and stared at these packaged "cookies," telling myself, "oh, these aren't that bad for me!  It's like eating a granola bar or something.  You know, because it has fruit on the inside.  And well, it's not REALLY a cookie, because it isn't shaped like one.  And..."  I had SO many reasons to argue it being "healthy" for me.  And, I guess in the grand scheme of things, there are much worse things that one could eat.  With this recipe, I can actually argue them feeling more healthy.  Without pounds and pounds of sugar and made with fresh squeezed orange juice and 100% pure apple juice, you're consuming a lot of natural sugars instead of the refined ones!  I'm good with that.  (And for you vegans out there, I really think this one could be easily made vegan with just a few, tiny adjustments!!).

There is a rather large bag of dried figs sitting in our fridge right now.  I must say, I'm a huge fan of Costco (and other wholesale food stores that "cater" to us student-types of folks!).  I'd say we're really getting our moneys worth out of this bag.  I really do enjoy figs, but I find I can only eat two or three at a time before I start to go crazy.  I like them in small quantities and think they're incredibly versatile!  (I made that Moroccan Chicken way back at the beginning of this adventure with figs!).  What a great way to use these little guys!

This recipe was adapted from a posting I found on The Boastful Baker.  She had adjusted her recipe slightly from a book called Desserts by the Yard (so hopefully my small changes aren't exactly what were in the original recipe!).

These bar "cookies" have a great fig/orange flavor to them.  (If you want them a little more "figgy," like figgy pudding, you might want to reduce the orange zest and just use water in place of the fresh orange juice).  Happy baking!

Childhood Fig Bars
Filling
   1 cup (packed) finely chopped dried mission figs
   1 1/2 cups apple juice
   1 cup orange juice + water (juice one orange and add water to make a full cup of liquid)
   1/4 cup sugar
   1/2 tsp orange zest

In a medium or large sauce pan, add chopped figs, apple juice, orange juice (+water), and sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Lower heat to medium-low or low (simmer if you have a good stove-top, unless us!!), and allow to cook off the liquid.  This can take anywhere from an hour to two hours.  Be patient!  It'll be worth it in the end.  :)

Once the figs are very soft, and a spreadable consistency, remove from heat.  Add orange zest and blend in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Allow to cool.

Dough
   1 stick butter (salted and room temp) - add 1/4 tsp salt if using unsalted butter
   1/2 cup sugar
   1 - 1 1/2 tsp orange zest
   1 egg
   1 tsp vanilla
   1 1/2 - 1 2/3 cups flour

In a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, and orange zest until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides before moving on to the next step.  Add eggs and vanilla and allow to completely incorporate.  Again, scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Next, add flour and mix on low, just until blended.  You may decide that you like your dough a little more firm, so add the extra bit of flour.  I like creamy, softer dough, so I usually use a little less than most people!  (I don't believe in crunchy/dark cookies!  Only ones that are soft, gooey, and melt in your hands as you're eating them!  Or rather... I skip the second step and just eat the dough!!).

To assemble the cookies...

Preheat the oven to 350.

Flour the surface in which you're going to be rolling out the dough.  Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 12" long and it about a 1/4" of an inch thick.  The dimensions will probably be around 12x24, but the most important thing I found was making sure the the cookie was thick enough, otherwise, the fig filling will start to fall out of the dough as you're wrapping it up!

Next, cut the dough (long ways) into about 4" stripes (12x4).  In the center of these, evenly distribute the filling.  Make sure you give it a decent amount of filling, otherwise the dough will overwhelm the cookie and you won't be able to enjoy the fig part (you might as well be making orange cookies otherwise!).

Fold up both sides of the dough, sealing it with your fingers at the seam.  Place the cookie log onto a baking sheet, seam side down.  You might want to place some parchment paper, wax paper, or foil down on your baking sheet.

Bake for 18-22 minutes (or once cookies look light brown).  Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into 1" pieces.