Happy Halloween 2008!

I heard yesterday that a couple (or a few!) of Jeff's co-workers were wondering if we were going to make those tempting Butterfinger Eyeballs that we made for a treat day last year. I hadn't planned on it, but after sifting through the pantry, I found I had enough of everything to make a half batch. After we got done with dinner last night, I set out to get them done. I managed to get them all dipped last night, but waited until this morning to add those funky bloodshot markings - hopefully they were a nice surprise for them today!

Now, because of the special nature of this evening, I figured it would be appropriate to have a little fun with our Friday Night Pizza!

There really is no wrong or right way to prepare this Pumpkin-Shaped Pepperoni Pizza, but here is how we decided to assemble it. Once we had tossed together that snazzy whole-wheat pizza dough that we always use and had given the yeast a chance to do its thing, we pressed the squishy dough out into a large oval shape. I then pressed some of the dough that felt a bit thick in places up the top center location - I pushed it up to create a base for the stem.

We slathered the top with our favorite homemade spicy pizza sauce we've been using lately, but your favorite kind will do fine. We then scattered rounds and trimmings (we'll get to that in a minute) of pepperoni on top. To give the pumpkin color a bit of depth, we used a combination of sharp yellow and mozzarella cheese - if you only like mozzarella, then just make a white pumpkin! If you do want that, I'd suggest you pre-bake the naked crust a bit so the cheese doesn't take on too much color while waiting on the crust to crisp up.

So Jeff could stay busy and keep his fingers out of the candy bowl while we waited for the doorbell, he created the eyes, nose and mouth by trimming the round pepperoni into triangles. While we snacked on a few of the trimmings, most of them went underneath the cheese (I think he intentionally sliced some pepperoni wrong, just so he had an excuse for extra pieces!). To give the pumpkin some dimension on top, we arranged thinly slice strips of green bell pepper in rows - I also trimmed a few extra and closely added them on top for the stem.

If you fancy other types of flavor and textures for your pizza, other than pepperoni, feel free to add them - just make sure they will all fit underneath the cheesy layer.

Recipes
Pumpkin-Shaped Pepperoni Pizza