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Writer's pictureFrances Smith Manzitto

Our Favorite Dessert in Italy

My wonderful husband recently took me on a big vacation to Italy to celebrate my big birthday. We had an amazing time and did not have a bad meal on the entire trip. The last night that we were there, we decided to forego our daily gelato and asked the waiter to tell us about their dessert selections. He told us about several different options, but told us that they had a "very special for you" dessert that is not even on the menu. It is basically a chocolate calzone. He had me a chocolate!



To suggest that this was a "pretty good" dessert would be an understatement of epic proportions. Our waiter explained that it is basically pizza dough, filled with nutella and mascarpone, then topped with chocolate sauce. It is served straight out of the oven.


We thought it was so good that we texted pictures home to our son in law. He's a foodie and we knew that he would absolutely love this. And we were right, he was very jealous of us!


About a month after our trip I decided that I wanted to see if I could recreate this delicious memory. I zipped off to Kroger and bought the four needed ingredients. I knew that I was not going to prepare a homemade pizza crust because this needed to be quick and easy.



This was an experiment, so I simply used store brand pizza crust and hazelnut spread. I chose a Hershey's syrup with lower sugar. I don't know why, given the rest of the ingredients, but somehow it made me feel better. I grabbed one of my beat up cookie sheets and covered it with parchment paper.




I spread the entire pizza crust on the parchment paper and used about 2/3rds of the mascarpone. In hindsight, I would suggest using the entire container. I love mascarpone and I am not sure why I didn't put it all on, I guess I was being conservative.



I topped the mascarpone with about 1/2 of the jar of hazelnut spread. Again, I think if I make this again, I will use a little more. Maybe not the whole jar, but at least 2/3rds.


Once filled, I pinched and rolled the seam. I did cut off a little bit of excess in the corners. I scored the top. I preheated the oven to 425 degrees and followed the instructions on the pizza dough, baking it for about 12 minutes. It smelled AHHMAZZZINGGGG!




It came out of the oven golden brown and smelling amazing. I will be honest, this is where we made a mistake. We didn't eat it right away. I cooked it a little too close to finishing our supper. I think that if I make this again, I would eat it as soon as I take it out of the oven. Don't get me wrong, it was VERY tasty, but not as ooey and gooey as if it had been hot.


This is the final product! It was very good and I am pretty sure that I will make this again, with a few minor adjustments. Was it as good as the Chocolate Calzone that I had in Rome? No, but heck, I wasn't at a wonderful outdoor cafe on the street in Rome, either. I can tell you that there was none leftover. My family at every single bite and thought it was great.


Ingredients:

1 Refrigerated Pizza Dough (I used Kroger brand)

1 small container of Mascarpone

2/3-1 small 13 oz jar of Hazelnut Spread

Chocolate Syrup.


1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Roll out pizza dough on parchment lined baking sheet.

3. Spread mascarpone and hazelnut spread on half of the pizza dough.

4. Fold top half over and roll/pinch the seam. Score the top.

5. Bake 9 - 15 minutes, until golden brown.

6. Top with chocolate syrup and eat while hot.


Let's not even talk about nutritional information. I'll keep it easy. It's not good for you, but it tastes great. You don't want to know how many calories or carbs it has. It's for a special day!



Remnants of the original Chocolate Calzone in Rome.


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