“When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore” – Dean Martin
It’s fitting that the first recipe we would do for our blog and YouTube channel would be pizza!
Pizza, or as the Italians would say, “pizza.” Yes, I (Gianni) actually put that into Google Translate just to make sure that pizza in Italian wasn’t spelled differently. Pizza has come a long way from it’s humble origins in the bustling city of Naples to become a dish in the United States that is almost as American as apple pie. It’s no secret that we as Americans love pizza.
Cara and I definitely love it. We have this weird thing that we do where we will replace songs lyrics with descriptions of eating pizza. Almost always involving anchovies even though neither of us has actually tried anchovies on pizza. But I digress…
Pizza is comforting, it’s fun, easy to get creative with and it brings people together (because everyone loves it, unless you’re a communist).
Cara and I have often discussed the fact that there is really no “bad” pizza. Sure, there’s levels to it, but even a “bad” pizza isn’t that bad. It’s perfect for anyone just starting out in the kitchen because it can be done super simply (store bought crust, pizza sauce in a jar, packaged shredded cheese, done). Or it can be done super gourmet with a homemade crust, all-day-simmered marinara sauce, freshly shredded mozzarella and deli sliced pepperoni, garnished with fresh basil.
This pizza recipe falls somewhere in between, so feel free to take shortcuts or step it up depending on your level of expertise in the kitchen. So wash your hands (or don’t, I don’t care) and let’s jump in!
Honey Jalapeño Pepperoni Pizza:
• Homemade 10-minute pizza dough (or store bought, pre-made dough)
• Pizza sauce, as much or as little as you like (we made our own, but you can buy some pre-made in a jar too!)
• 1 cup torn mozzarella cheese
• 1 1/4 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
• 1 jalapeño, sliced and de-seeded (leave seeds in for extra heat)
• Pepperoni slices, as much or as little as you like1 small handful of fresh basil leaves
• Sriracha, for drizzling
• Honey, for drizzling
Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees F.
2. Start out by making your pizza dough by following the linked recipe to a T. If you are buying pre-made dough, skip this step! (NOTE: we recommend Trader Joes “ready to bake garlic and herb pizza dough” if you live near a Trader Joes! Any kind of pizza dough is just fine though.)
3. While your dough is rising for 10 minutes, pull off chunks of mozzarella from your mozzarella ball until you get about 1 cup’s worth and place them in a bowl.
4. Next, wash your jalapeño, pat it dry with paper towel and place it on a cutting board. Cut your jalapeño into slices and then de-seed them, using a toothpick to poke out the seeds.
5. Remove your fresh basil leaves from the stem and set them aside. Wash and pat them dry if you feel like being sanitary!
6. Don’t forget to get out your pepperoni and shredded cheese as well!
7. After 10-ish minutes have passed, sprinkle some flour down on a clean surface and place your dough ball on the counter. Grab a rolling pin and roll out that dough! (NOTE: We rolled ours out to be about ~1/8-1/4″ thin… so pretty thin. We found that this was the perfect thickness after it was done. It will rise quite a bit, so don’t make it too thick!)
8. Place your dough on a greased pizza stone or cast iron pizza pan. (NOTE: If you don’t have a pizza stone or pan, use the back side of a sheet pan! Don’t forget to spray it with non-stick spray. If you need to shape your pizza to be a little more square, go for it!)
9. Next, season your crust! (NOTE: We recommend basting it with melted butter or olive oil mixed with garlic powder and Italian seasoning. If you’re using freshly-pressed garlic cloves, don’t overdo it because it has a strong flavor!)
10. Now start spooning your pizza sauce onto the dough and spread it around. Add as much or as little as you like.
11. Then add your shredded Italian cheese blend, evenly distributing.
12. Add the pepperoni next. Again, add as much or as little as you like. Then add the jalapeño slices, then the mozzarella chunks and then finally the basil leaves.
13. Place your pizza in the oven and set the timer for 10 minutes.
14. After 10 minutes, Take your pizza out and see if it’s cooked to your liking. We ended up putting ours back in for 2 more minutes!
15. When you’re happy with your pizza’s done-ness, finish it off with a drizzle of Sriracha across the top, followed by a drizzle of honey.
16. Enjoy!! 🙂
And you know we had to do it to ’em by baking a batch of fresh, homemade chocolate-chip cookies for dessert. If you’re gonna have a cheat day, you might as well do it right, people!!!!!
For some reason pizza and chocolate chip cookies seem to go together? Every fast food pizza chain always has chocolate chip cookie related desserts. Why not celebrate eating bread by eating MORE bread!!
And we’re always down for more bread.
So that is why we chose to make some chocolate-chip cookies to eat after our pizza this week. But not just any standard chocolate-chip cookies, we added a nice lil’ twist to it by adding butterscotch chips and pudding into the mix!
Growing up, my (Cara) grandma would sometimes add butterscotch chips to her chocolate chip cookies, and I always loooveedd them. If you’re under 40 and you’re scared of butterscotch because it seems like a “weird, old people flavor” similar to black licorice, DON’T be. Black licorice is horrible, let’s be real, but butterscotch is truly heaven-sent.
And last year I found out that adding instant pudding mix to your cookie dough not only incorporates extra flavor, but it basically guarantees that your cookies will be soft and chewy, if you’re into that type of cookie… which we totally are.
So without further ado, here is the cookie recipe!
Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies:
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
A little more than 1/2 of a 3.5 oz package of instant butterscotch pudding mix (use vanilla if you can’t find butterscotch)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/8 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
NOTE: This is a half recipe, we did not want to make, like, 25 cookies since we weren’t going to share them outside of our house. This recipe made 10 cookies which was more than enough for us. Double this recipe if you want a full batch of cookies (20-25, depending on size).
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Using a hand mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Add the pudding mix and continue mixing until well blended.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.
4. Add the flour and baking soda and continue mixing.
5. Stir in the chocolate and butterscotch chips by hand with a large spoon
6. Using a cookie scoop or spoon, scoop out even amounts of cookie dough and roll them into a ball. Place cookies on a lightly greased sheet pan, or if you have a silicone baking sheet, place your cookies on that.
7. Place your cookies into the oven for 10 minutes, or until edges are golden brown. (NOTE: We had to put ours back in for an extra 4 minutes!)
8. Enjoy, they’re best with a glass of milk!
(TIP: For any beginners, cookies will still be soft and doughy-looking while they are still hot. The only way to determine their done-ness is by color. Tan edges are a good stopping point, the darker tan they get, the crispier they will be when they cool down!)