Have you ever met a child who doesn’t like a homemade pizza? Depends on the toppings, perhaps. Pizza Celebration Treats should be A MUST for any party, snack or slow weekend cooking dinner. As my little one is a pizza monster, I am making this homemade pizza almost every week. For real.
I think this pizza dough isn’t that time-consuming, and I am always certain of all products I am using in it. To be honest, it is indeed nutritious. Especially, if you sneak in some veggies. This is a perfect way how to make your little ones like the veggies and have fun eating them.
Let me provide you with several ideas: Pizza Smileys, Hearts, Ladybugs, Teddies and Pizza Muffins. I’ve already used it even as The Pizza Birthday Tart. Why not.
Pizza Celebration Treats are suitable for babies from 1 plus. Offer as an afternoon’s snack and enjoy.
Total Time: 1 day
Shopping List
The Dough as per in my Easy Pizza Dough Recipe:
20g of fresh yeast
1 teaspoon of caster sugar
500g of plain flour, sifted
A pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons of olive oilThe Toppings:
250g of good quality pressed tomatoes
Provencal Herbs
Mature Cheese (Mozzarella, Gouda, Cheddar, Old Amsterdam), grated
The Pizza Smileys, Ladybugs, Teddies and Pizza Muffins:
Small radish, cleaned, washed and sliced
Green olives, deseeded and halved
Cucumber, washed and diced
Few stalks of fresh chives
Cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
Few slices of courgette, washed
1 young carrot, peeled, washed and sliced
Instructions
The Dough
one day ahead
Prepare the dough as per in my Easy Pizza Dough Recipe.
First, activate the yeast. Pour in some lukewarm water into a half of a coffee mug, sprinkle with the yeast and 1 teaspoon of caster sugar. Mix and sprinkle with a pinch of flour.
Let it rise for about 20 minutes in a warm place.
Meanwhile, place flour into a large mixing bowl. Add sea salt and make a well in the middle.
Once the yeast is activated, mold it into the well. Add a splash of olive oil and start kneading The Dough with hands.
Accordingly to the texture, add water (I used around one coffee mug).
The Dough shouldn’t be too sticky, but elastic and smooth.
Once you are done (takes from 5-10 minutes, depending on your strength), sprinkle with some flour and cover with a clean cloth. Let it rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour until it doubles its size.
Then, wrap it into a cling foil and refrigerate an overnight.
Next day
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Take out the dough and divide it into your desirable shapes.
The Pizza Muffins:
Brush your muffin pan with some olive oil, so the dough won’t stick to them.
You can also use muffin paper cups as the dough is quite steady.
Next, tear a small part of the dough and create a round with your fingers. Thinner in the middle, thicker on sides. Place it gently into a muffin form.
Pour the tomatoes in the middle, around 1 tablespoon. It becomes nicely juicy afterwards. Sprinkle with a pinch of Provencal Herbs and place in the oven. No limits to imagination, you can creat small faces or just put slices of carrot and shapes from courgette over the top. For the very small shapes, use these cutters.
Bake for about 15 minutes until nicely baked through.
Then, take them out and create small nets of cheese. Melt it in the oven for about 2 minutes, take them out and let them cool down a bit. Done.
The Pizza Smileys, Hearts, Ladybugs and Teddies:
You can combine them all or as per your creativity. Use cookie cutters of your liking.
Roll out the dough up to your desirable thickness and create shapes.
Place them gently into a baking tray lightly greased with some olive oil.
Put around 1 tablespoon of tomatoes on each of them. Sprinkle with Provencal Herbs. Make shapes with small cutters.
Next, you can either bake them and place fresh veggies on top of them (as per instructions listed below) or bake the veggies now.
The Hearts and Teddies: Cut small cubes of courgette (from the skin) and carrot. Use them for eyes, nose, mouth, belly buttons or just stick them into hands of teddies. Just have fun with your little ones, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Kids love just the idea, trust me on that.
Bake for about 10 minutes in the oven.
Then, sprinkle with cheese and let it melt in the oven for 2 more minutes.
Take them out and let them cool down for a bit.
Next, place fresh vegetables on some of them. For The Smileys, create eyes with slices of radish and olives and cranky mouth with a cucumber.
The Ladybugs: for the body place a half of cherry tomato (cut in the middle, but not all the way through), for the head a half of olive. Put few stalks of fresh chives into the olive for the feelers.
Note that the thinner the dough is, the crunchier it gets. Due to the shape, pizza muffins have more cake consistency, therefore, juicier and thicker.
Serve with fresh vegetables and have a nice party. For more Pizza Specials, check out My ‘Easy Pizza Dough’ and ‘Pizza Cake’ Recipes.
Makes 2 baking trays.
