This is a childhood favorite – a 4th of July staple for our neighborhood block parties, and even now, I crave it every single summer. It’s in our family recipe book written by my mom over 15 years ago and it’s a wonderful combination of tangy pudding-like cheesecake and sweet boysenberry jam. It has a few steps of chilling, cooling, etc. but it’s worth every step.
The pie dough is a very sturdy one, hence the “pizza” name. It’s firm enough to cut a slice and pick it up with your fingers. Do it! You could certainly do a more standard flaky pie crust (which I love), but the recipe included definitely isn’t that.
Start with a pie dough, followed by a blind bake (partially baking with parchment and dried beans or weights), remove and bake until golden. If you like your crust to maintain it’s defined crimped edges, be sure to chill the shell for 30 minutes and bake straight from the freezer or refrigerator. If you’re like me, it’s one extra step that isn’t important to you, and definitely doesn’t affect the taste of the final product so you skip it.
Then you make the boysenberry filling and let it cool while the crust cools.
The cream cheese filling mixed with lemon zest is absolutely delicious- this gets piled in the cooled crust, before the whole berries are scattered around and the jam filling is poured over.
Like all of us, this dessert NEEDS chills time. If you begin it in the morning and allow steps for cooling and set up time, I promise you will be rewarded with a boysenberry pizza you can pick up with your fingers and be absolutely delighted.
If you begin it in the early afternoon and let it set at least 4 hours like I did in the above picture, you will have a little more runny jam filling, but will be delighted nonetheless. Both are delicious and I hope you get a chance to make it this summer!
Cheers,
Christina
Boysenberry Pizza
A delicious combination of cheesecake and fruit pie, this summer dessert is a childhood favorite and now a favorite with my own family. You can use boysenberries or the widely available blackberry. If you make this for friends or family, I promise they will ask you for the recipe after their first bite. A perfect summer BBQ or July 4th treat!
Ingredients
Pie dough
- 1½ cup flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
- 4-5 tbsp ice water
Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 egg
- 1 cup sugar divided
- zest of 1 lemon
- ¼ kosher salt
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 2 Tbsp water
- 2- 6 ounce containers of boysenberries or blackberries
Instructions
Pie Dough
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In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt to blend.
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Add butter and pulse a few times to cut butter into the flour until you have small pieces of butter throughout.
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Add ice water a little at a time and pulse until mixture forms a dough that can holds together when you pinch a bit in your hand.
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Gather dough onto a very lightly floured board and press into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
Chilled Dough
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Preheat oven to 400°. Roll dough out on a lightly floured board and place in a 9" glass pie dish. Crimp the sides as desired. Make several fork piercings around the bottom and sides of dough.
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Blind bake: Place a sheet of parchment paper on the dough and cover with dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes.
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Remove parchment and beans and continue to bake for another 10 minutes, until the crust is lightly golden. Set aside to cool. Lower oven temperature to 250°.
Filling
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In a medium saucepan, mash 1 container of berries with ⅔ cup sugar. Add water and cornstarch and bring mixture to a boil. While mixture is boiling, stir with spatula to prevent scorching and continue to cook until thickened, about 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.
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Add cream cheese, egg, sugar, lemon zest and salt to a medium bowl. With a hand mixer, blend until smooth and well combined.
To assemble
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Fill cooled pie shell with cream cheese mixture and bake for 15 minutes at lower temperature until set. Cool.
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Scatter remaining container of berries over surface of cooled filling. Pour cooled crushed berry mixture over the whole berries.
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Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours, until firm and can easily slice with a knife.
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