secret recipe club: maple glazed whole wheat spiced apple pizza

for this month's secret recipe club, i chose something totally out of season, sawsan's apple and cinnamon streusel pizza. sawson blogs over at chef in disguise and when i first saw that she lives in the middle east, i naively thought we couldn't have anything in common. i was so wrong! i have a pretty technical day job and spend a lot of my off hours cooking and being a mom. and so does sawsan. she is an orthodontist by day and self professed "food explorer" - a term which i love, by the way - by night and a mom of two.

this recipe was the perfect way to use up some apples i had hiding out in my refrigerator that had seen better days. spiced up with orange, lemon, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg and blanketed with streusel, these are my kind of apples. it didn't hurt that i added another layer of sweetness with a maple glaze.

while this pizza was baking in the oven, i kept thinking of other combinations that would be equally as delicious - spiced apple drizzled or baked with caramel, spiced pear, fresh berries, peaches with vanilla. i cannot wait to try a few later this summer when fruit is in season!

this recipe would be great for a party - it's easy to make and can feed a lot of people. besides, who can resist warm, cinnamony apples?!


for more information on the secret recipe club, including the list of participating bloggers, featured recipes from members, and instructions on how to join, visit the secret recipe club website!
 
check out my previous secret recipe club posts: pig out cookies, pasta with blistered tomatoes & arugula and iced grapefruit cookies, mushroom barley soup, scalloped ham and potato bake & andes mint cake, chicken souvlaki with tzatziki, asian pork chops, lemon lime meltaways, blueberry peach crisp, minted lemon ice, white chocolate macadamia nut blondies, raspberry cream filled eclairs, jam swirled cheesecake, whole wheat grapefruit cake, chewy no bake granola bars & carrot cinnamon waffles, cannoli, gingerbread muffins, double chocolate peanut butter chip oatmeal cookies, butterscotch peach cake, whole wheat honey pancakes, minted pineapple lime agua fresca, breakfast tacos, simple almond sandwich cookies, & roasted banana rum cake.

maple glazed whole wheat spiced apple pizza
adapted from chef in disguise
45 minutes, serves 8+

sawsan's original recipe calls for the zest of a whole orange, so that's what i used. and honestly, it was a bit overpowering. i like the combo of apples + orange, so i think the zest is good, it could just be toned down a bit. if you don't care for the combo, skip the orange zest completely.

1/2 pound whole wheat pizza dough
1 tablespoon butter, melted

for the apples:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 large hard apples (gala and jonagold are good choices), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
zest of half an orange (optional, see note above)
zest of half a lemon
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

for the streusel:
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

for the glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
1-2 tablespoons water

1. if using a pizza stone, place it in your oven and preheat it to 450F. if you aren't using a pizza stone, preheat your oven to 450F. stretch your pizza dough into roughly a twelve inch circle and set aside.
2. saute the apples. melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat. once melted, add the brown sugar and cook until dissolved, about 1 minute. add the apples, turn down the heat to medium low and cook until the apples are tender and the sauce has been reduced to a glaze - it will become watery before it thickens - about 10 minutes. remove from heat and mix in the zest and spices.
3. make the streusel (if you're super organized, make the streusel while the apples are sauteing). mix the flour, oats, sugar, and salt in a bowl. add the butter and use your hands to rub it into the mixture until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
4. spoon the hot apple mixture over the pizza dough evenly. sprinkle the streusel evenly over the apple mixture on the pizza. brush the crust with melted butter. bake until the crust is golden, about 8 minutes. remove from the oven and cool completely. 
5. to make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon water until smooth. if the glaze is too thick, add water a little bit at a time, until it's the consistency you want. pour glaze over the cooled pizza. store leftover pizza in the refrigerator.