Nutella, Frangipane and Poached Pear Pizza

Nutella’s the standard for dessert pizza. Spreadable, meltable and delicious, it’s easy to understand why. But that doesn’t mean you have to be satisfied with the same old banana and strawberry pairings. Adding mascarpone, Graham crackers, marshmallows, caramel drizzle, white chocolate chips or peanuts creates layers of flavour and texture, elevating a delicious but one-note, end-of-meal treat into a compelling, bite-after-bite slice. While experimenting to create a Nutella pie that pops, our chef at the Ooni HQ kitchen married the famous hazelnut cocoa spread with frangipane and spiced poached pears for a French take on this dessert pizza classic.

A few tips. First, keep a close eye on your bake: High-sugar toppings tend to burn fast, and frangipane, the French, almond-flavoured cream made of butter, almonds, sugar, flour and vanilla, is definitely on the saccharine side. After a few frangipane fireballs in the test kitchen, we changed our approach and parbaked the crust to avoid any burning. When parbaking a thin Neapolitan-style dough, it will tend to bubble and rise in the center. Don’t panic. Simply pop any big bubble and let it deflate.

We arranged our pears (an easy, but impressive ingredient) in a fan, but take your own artistic license. A Nutella drizzle post-bake means you’ll avoid issues with burning it in the oven. And don’t forget about that salt finish! Flaky sea salt makes every other flavour pop and gives all of that ooey, gooey sweetness necessary balance.

Nutella, Frangipane and Poached Pear Pizza

Note

Alternatively, instead of a parbake, this recipe would benefit from a blind bake using ice cubes. If taking this approach, you will need metal tongs and a pair of gloves. Watch this clip to get a sense of how the ice cube technique works.