You guys know that I love pizza, and I love anything creative. Combining my two loves in these mini pizza pumpkin decorating ideas made for a pretty fantastic family night last week, and I hope you try it out too!
Similar to my make your own mini pizza party idea, this is a fun family activity that would be perfect for dinner on Halloween night or really any fall family meal since pumpkins are in season all fall long! And all you need is pizza dough, orange shredded cheese, California Black Ripe Olives, basil, and any other toppings your family loves.
To setup your own mini pizza pumpkin decorating station, first make or buy your pizza dough. I used this recipe, and it turned out super yummy in these pizzas.
Once your pizza dough is ready to go, roll out small circular crusts. When I’m making mini pizzas, I like to do them directly on our baking stone so that there is less transferring of the pizza, and I recommend you do the same. And don’t worry about if they’re perfect circles, pumpkins aren’t.
Once the dough is rolled out, set out your favorite pizza toppings and let your family go to town with their pumpkin decorating. The three toppings that are a must-have for this activity are orange shredded cheese (to get the orange pumpkin look), basil or green pepper (for the stem), and of course, black olives. Black olives are really the most important though since you use them to create the faces, designs, etc. Without the black olives, you will have very sad pumpkins.
Black olives are one of my favorite things to use for food decorating activities. They’re adult and kid-friendly and add the perfect pop of color, texture, and yummy flavor to these pizzas. And I love using the California Ripe Olives specifically because they have such a nice black color; it’s seriously perfect for pumpkin faces, not to mention they’re always in my pantry because our family loves them.
You know what else I love about black olives? I love how perfectly they fit on your fingers and how good they taste eating them directly from your fingers. I have happily passed that holiday tradition down to K. And watching him eat black olives off his fingers may be almost as good as eating pizza fresh out of the oven.
I think my favorite is the one-eyed pumpkin monster, but they all turned out cute.
After everyone has decorated their pumpkins, throw them in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the dough is cooked. Then enjoy your yummy pumpkin feast. I know we did. What other fun ways can you think of to decorate your food with black olives?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
Ingredients
- Pizza dough
- Orange shredded cheese
- California Black Ripe Olives
- Basil
- Other toppings your family loves
Instructions
- To setup your own mini pizza pumpkin decorating station, first make or buy your pizza dough.
- Once your pizza dough is ready to go, roll out small circular crusts.
- Once the dough is rolled out, set out your favorite pizza toppings and let your family go to town with their pumpkin decorating.
- After everyone has decorated their pumpkins, throw them in the oven for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the dough is cooked.
Marilyn says
What a fun way to enjoy pizza…this is so festive for this time of year!
Kristina says
At what temp do you bake? And do you ever prebake the pizza stone?
Thanks!
BritniV says
The baking temp and time totally depends on what type of crust you’re using. I’d just bake it as long as the recipe (or pre-made dough) you’re using calls for. And yes, we almost always pre-bake the pizza stone!