The BEST fall dessert: Snickers Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza. A giant peanut butter cookie topped with a fluffy caramel frosting, apples, and Snickers candy!
Nothing screams “fall” to me more than caramel apples, pizza, and candy. On their own, they’re amazing, but put together? They’re mind blowing amazing. Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza (with Snickers!!!) is what fall’s allllll about, y’all!
I don’t know why I just said y’all. It seemed right.
This year, I cannot get enough apples. I’ve been eating them plain as a mid-morning snack, with peanut butter & chocolate chips as an afternoon pick-me-up, and now, in this caramel apple dessert pizza.
What’s not to love about them? They’re crisp, fresh, cold, tart, and oh so sweet and juicy. I knew I wanted to make an apple dessert for the blog, but was at a complete loss for what to make.
Somehow, I started thinking about one of my best friends, Emily, and this “salad” her mom used to make.
It’s called Snickers Caramel Apple Salad and it’s basically the best salad I’ve ever had. 😉 I thought everyone in the Midwest knew what this was, but when I asked Trevor and our neighbors if they’d heard of it, they looked at me like I was a mad woman.
If you have heard of it, thank you!! 😉 For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, Snickers caramel apple salad is basically apples, snickers, pudding, and cool whip mixed together and served cold.
It’s delish and if all salads were like this, you know we’d all be eating more salads. 😉
Me, being me, I had to put my own little twist on it, so I made it into this caramel apple dessert pizza.
It starts with a giant peanut butter cookie crust. As all good recipes do, really.
It’s a simple cookie recipe that gets pressed onto a greased 12 inch round pizza pan. While that’s baking and then cooling, the frosting gets made.
This is where my twist on the caramel apple salad comes in to play.
First, whip together cream cheese and butter. Then stir in instant vanilla pudding mix and powdered sugar. Once fluffy, vanilla extract and caramel sauce gets beaten it. To make it nice and light, we fold in cool whip.
Ohhhh YES.
Of course, while the cookie was cooling I taste-tested and dipped apples into the frosting, drizzled it in caramel and chopped snickers, and…
just do it. You won’t regret it. 😉
Once the giant peanut butter cookie has cooled, the frosting get smeared all over it, topped with thinly sliced apples, chopped snickers, and drizzled in more caramel.
I can honestly say this caramel apple dessert pizza is the best pizza I’ve ever had. The peanut butter cookie crust is thin and crunchy, but still soft. The frosting is crazy fluffy and sweet, with a little tang from the cream cheese. The apples give this pizza a great crunch and the tart flavor really offsets the sweetness of the frosting. Last but not least, those snickers. The salty, chocolatey, chewy candy just makes this pretty darn perfect.
Who wants a slice?!
– Jennifer
Is caramel not the BEST? Be sure to check out my other caramel recipes:
Peanut Butter Salted Caramel Cookies
Flourless Salted Caramel Brownies
Vanilla Bourbon Salted Caramel
Caramel Apple Dessert Pizza
Equipment for this recipe
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookie Crust
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Frosting
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ½ stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup caramel sauce I just used jarred caramel ice cream topping
- 1 (8 oz) package Cool Whip thawed
Topping
- 2 cups chopped snickers
- 1 ½ - 2 granny smith apples thinly sliced
- caramel sauce
Instructions
Peanut Butter Cookie Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 12 in round non stick pizza pan with cooking spray.
- Using a stand mixer, cream together peanut butter, oil, and both sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in the egg and vanilla extract for 30 seconds.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and then beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. It will be very crumbly! That's ok.
- Dump the cookie dough onto the greased pan and use your hands to press the dough evenly over the pan.
- Prick the cookie all over with a fork (like you would with pie crust - this helps the cookie from rising too much).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden.
- Let cool completely before frosting.
Frosting
- Cream together cream cheese and unsalted butter until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
- Beat in vanilla pudding mix and powdered sugar. It will be very thick.
- Again, scrape down the bottom of sides of the bowl.
- Now beat in the vanilla extract and caramel sauce.
- Once combined, on the lowest setting of your stand mixer, beat in the cool whip for 30 seconds.
- Using a spatula, gently fold in the cool whip the rest of the way.
- Frost the cooled cookie.
- Topping:
- Top frosting with thinly sliced apples, chopped snickers, and drizzle with more caramel sauce!
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge, covered!
- Take 5 seconds to rate this recipe below. We greatly appreciate it!
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Nutrition Information
*Note: Nutrition information is estimated and varies based on products used.
Lou
Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy