Fruit-Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

In honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to share a perfect dessert recipe to make for your Valentine. This recipe comes from Pampered Chef's "All the Best" cookbook. It's a relatively easy dessert that you could prepare in stages to make it more convenient. Also, feel free to try different fruits with this recipe. The original recipe calls for strawberries and oranges but I've never been a fan of oranges and chocolate. I think you could easily substitute raspberries for the strawberries.

Fruit-Topped Triple Chocolate Pizza

1 package (18 ounce) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

2 squares (1 ounce each) white chocolate for baking

2 tablespoons milk

1 package (8 ounce) cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup thawed, frozen whipped topping

12-16 strawberries, cut in half

1 can (11 ounces) mandarin orange segments, well drained

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Shape cookie dough into a ball and place in center of a large round stone. Using lightly floured rolling pin, roll dough to a 12-inch circle, about 1/4 inch thick. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set. (Cookie will be soft. Do not overbake.) Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Carefully loosen cookie from baking stone using a serrated bread knife; cool completely on baking stone.

2. Place white chocolate and milk in small microwavable bowl. Microwave on HIGH 1 minute; still until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Microwave an additional 10-20 seconds if necessary. Cool slightly. In another bowl, combine cream cheese and powdered sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in white chocolate mixture; mix until smooth. Fold in whipped topping. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over cookie. 

3 Arrange fruit over cream cheese mixture. Place chocolate morsels and vegetable oil in small microwavable bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH 30 seconds or until chocolate is melted and smooth. Drizzle over fruit. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Cut into wedges.

Yield: 16 servings