Paleo strawberry dessert pizza, and celebrating strawberry season with local berry varietals!

Paleo strawberry dessert pizza, and celebrating strawberry season with local berry varietals!

• 6.25.2018

I looooove berry season in Oregon, and strawberries are my fave!! We love to get out berry picking throughout the summer but some of the strawberry varieties are the first to be ripe here.

Hood strawberries are famous in Oregon for being super sweet and juicy, with no white part--delicious all the way up to the stem! But there are actually several other strawberry varietals that grow well around here, some of which are even more delicious than Hoods and have longer growing seasons!

The Oregon Strawberry Commission asked me to check out several varietals available at local farmers' markets this time of year and come up with a recipe using them. Now, my favorite way to eat fresh Oregon strawberries is PLAIN!! they are so good!!, but if they're good with nothing on them, they must also be amazing in desserts (they are).

(Wherever you live, it is great if you can support your local farmers and shop for berries at your farmers' market or grocery store that buys from local growers, or direct from the farm. Find farms near you at LocalHarvest.org.)

I'm a mom now, so I figured I should make fun-sounding treats rather than go for fancy all the time. So enter my first ever "dessert pizza." Basically a tarte with shortbread crust and cream layer, but I thought it was fun to call it a pizza, too!



I used Seascape berries for this recipe, bought at the Portland PSU farmers market, but I think my favorite strawberry variety is the Shucksan, which they have at the farm where we get u-pick berries every summer. We picked and froze a gallon bag of Hoods a few weeks ago and this past weekend, couldn't pick due to baby nap schedules and other to-dos, but bought a flat and a half of Shucksans and froze most of them too!

Paleo strawberry dessert pizza

Ingredients:

Crust: (adapted from this recipe)

• 2 1/4 c. almond flour 
• 1/4 c. arrowroot powder 
• 1/8 tsp sea salt 
• 1/4 c. maple syrup 
• 1/3 c. cold unsalted butter (or 1/2 c. coconut palm shortening for dairy-free)

Cream:

• 1.5 c. coconut cream, refrigerated overnight (the top of full-fat canned coconut milk, or buy plain coconut cream like from Trader Joe's)
• 3 tbsp honey

Topping:

• 1 pint fresh, local strawberries (we used Seascapes)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper. 
2. In a food processor or bowl with mixing whisk or hand mixer, combine the dry ingredients for the crust. Then add the maple syrup and mix. 
3. Chop the butter or palm shortening into tablespoon-sized chunks and add to the mixing bowl or food processor. Pulse until a ball forms. 
4. Roll out the ball on the tin foil or parchment paper into a round, pizza shape, about 1/2" thick.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until crust is golden brown, rotating once halfway through. (Once baked, refrigerate or let sit out until room temperature.)
6. Meanwhile, mix the coconut cream and honey with a whisk or hand mixer and refrigerate again.
7. Once crust is fully cooled, top with cream layer. De-stem and slice strawberries and layer on top. (The only thing I would change about how I did this was I recommend using MORE strawberries than I did! I didn't use the whole pint or create a solid layer but I suggest you do!)

Serve cold. Also freezes very well!

I served on pizza plates for an extra pizza-like, fun mom vibe. ;)

Thank you to the Oregon Strawberry Commission for sponsoring this post!