At one point when I was growing up a family from Mexico moved into the house next door. Every now and then when we kids were making play plans for the weekend, their kids would tell us they could not play because it was a cooking weekend for them - the whole family spent the entire weekend making some sort of food, such as tamales and empanadas. This dough recipe came from their mom (terribly embarrassed to say I don't remember her name!) She used it for many things (including Mexican-style pizzas), usually with heavily seasoned meats such as picadillo for empanadas (though she also made sweet empanadas with it.) It is slightly sweet so it helps to balance out the spiciness.
Death By Dessert Pizza
Dough:
1 part butter
1 part cream cheese
2 parts all-purpose flour
A pinch or so of salt
More flour as needed for texture, and for rolling, if needed.
Bring butter and cream cheese to room temperature then use your mixer or food processor to thoroughly blend. Stir salt into flour, then mix the dry ingredients into the butter/cream cheese mix. Refrigerate at least 15 minutes, up to 1 day. If refrigerated more than 15 minutes set out to warm a bit so it is easier to work with. Roll between sheets of parchment paper until less than 1/4" thick.
First Toppings:
Bacon
Chocolate
Congo Trinidad powder
Cinnamon
Ginger
Cook bacon until just crisp. Crumble fairly finely. Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place chocolate, bacon, hot pepper powder , ginger, and cinnamon into a bag and shake well to combine.
Preheat oven to 350F. Place dough on baking sheet and prick surface with a fork. Sprinkle the first toppings on and gently press into the dough. Bake for 20 minutes or until edges of the crust are golden and chocolate is softened.
Final Toppings:
Rum Chata (rum made with cream, kind of like Bailey's, but with a different flavor profile)
Cream Cheese
Congo Trinidad powder
Cinnamon
Ginger
Pomegranate
Blend cream cheese, rum and seasinings until smooth. Pipe onto pizza. Sprinkle fresh pomegranate on top.
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Crust rolled out:
The crust with chocolate/bacon/spices mix after baking:
Fully topped:
You may notice that I added no sugar. The Rum Chata is very sweet - almost like drinking a danish - plus cream cheese is somewhat sweet so no additional sugar is necessary. The tartness of the pomegranate was a great balance against the Rum Chata, and these complimented the spiced bacon and chocolate very nicely. If you are wondering about the crunch of the pomegranate as possibly being off-putting, it's not - the bacon is crisp and the crust rather cracker-like, so the textures all went very well together.
