This Hawaiian Naan Pizza makes a deliciously easy dinner that’s cheaper, faster, and healthier than delivery!
Hey, remember a couple of weeks ago in my Pasta Primavera post when I teased that a Naan Pizza recipe would be coming soon? Well, today is that day! Happy Naan Pizza Day!!! (Is that already a National Food Holiday? I would not be even a little bit surprised.)
Naan makes a perfect pizza crust. It’s not like making French bread pizza or a bagel pizza, where you are well aware of the fact that you are eating pizza on a piece of bread, naan just tastes like really good thin pizza crust, only without the work of making it (though if you want to make some go check out my Margherita Pizza post).
Plus, it’s perfectly sized to make individual pizzas, and anytime I have the excuse to get my own pizza, I am pleased as punch.
I’m partial to Hawaiian Pizza, so that’s the type of naan pizza I made for today’s post. And when making homemade pizza, I always use my favorite homemade pizza sauce because it’s the best (I keep jars of it in the freezer just for such an occasion).
But real talk, if you are reading this at 4:45 right before you leave work to go to the store and it’s been a long day, you can just pick up a jar of the pre-made stuff and your pizzas are still going to be delicious.
You’ll notice that the recipe’s approximately 3 sentences long. That’s because there’s not a lot to tell. Just slather sauce, sprinkle cheese, ham, and pineapple, and bake. In 12 to 15 minutes, you have a fabulous pizza dinner!
I made this pizza twice last week, once to photograph, and a second time two days later because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And I’m maybe already wondering if it’s too soon to put it on next week’s menu…
What are your go-to pizza toppings? What type of naan pizza would you make?
Ingredients
- ▢ 2 Naan loaves
- ▢ 3/4 cup pizza sauce homemade or store-bought
- ▢ 3/4 cup ( 3 oz) shredded mozzarella
- ▢ 1 cup chopped pineapple*
- ▢ 1/2 cup ( 3 oz) chopped Canadian bacon or ham
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Assemble your pizzas, dividing the ingredients evenly between the naan.
- Bake on a cookie sheet for 12 to 14 minutes, until edges of the naan are golden and crispy and cheese melted. Slice and enjoy!
Notes
These easy Small-batch Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls with Espresso Glaze can be prepared the night before and then baked in the morning for a hot, chocolatey breakfast in bed.
Last year around this time, I posted my Easy Overnight Cinnamon Rolls for Two . They were one of the first really popular recipes on the site, and are probably the sweet recipe I get the most positive feedback on (thank you to everyone who has tagged me on pictures of them on Instagram –I LOVE seeing them!!).
Since they’ve been so well-loved, I wanted to do another version this year, but the truth is, those cinnamon rolls are basically my perfect sweet rolls. They are (by design) exactly what I want in a breakfast treat. How do you improve on that?
Then it hit me, chocolate and coffee.
The answer is always chocolate and coffee.
Please allow me to introduce you to my Small-batch Chocolate Cinnamon Rolls with Espresso Glaze.
When I was testing these rolls, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to make them simple chocolate rolls or chocolate cinnamon rolls.
I made both versions, and while both were great, in the end, chocolate cinnamon won out because the spicy sweet of the cinnamon is so good with the richness of the chocolate. And I’m a big fan of cinnamon and coffee as a combo, so drizzling an espresso glaze over the top really brings all the flavors together for the most fabulous, decadent sweet roll breakfast you can imagine.
And just a heads up, folks. If you don’t like SWEET and CHOCOLATE and GOOEY. This is not the breakfast/dessert for you. Might I suggest some lightly sweet Crêpes for Two or savory Breakfast Fried Rice ? Or if you’re looking for a healthy option (what are you doing on this recipe!? 😉 ) a Naturally Sweet Green Smoothie might be just the thing.
Still here? Great. I think you’re going to love these rolls. And hey, if you don’t like coffee, you can omit the espresso powder in the glaze and add a dash of vanilla for a vanilla version. And if you don’t think a cinnamon roll is a cinnamon roll worth eating without cream cheese frosting, you can totally mix and match the drop-dead amazing cream cheese frosting from my original cinnamon rolls .
The base recipe for these rolls is the same as those original cinnamon rolls, so if you’ve made them before, this recipe will look very familiar. And if you haven’t, don’t worry. This is one of the easiest yeasted recipes you’ll find! As long as you have live yeast and a warm place to let your rolls rise, you’ll be just fine. And like the original rolls, these can be overnight cinnamon rolls or made all in one go. There are instructions in the recipe for both and it’s up to you.
Happy baking!
Ingredients
Special Equipment
- ▢ 6 to 7-inch baking dish
Rolls
- ▢ 1/3 cup milk any percentage
- ▢ 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1 oz) butter melted
- ▢ 1 tablespoon ( 13 g) granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 large egg yolk
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 1 1/4 cup ( 150 g) all-purpose flour measured using the spoon and sweep method*, plus more for dusting)
Filling
- ▢ 2 tablespoons ( 1 oz) butter softened
- ▢ 1/4 cup ( 50 g) packed brown sugar
- ▢ 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- ▢ 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Espresso Glaze
- ▢ 3/4 cup ( 90 g) powdered sugar sifted
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon espresso powder
- ▢ 2 tablespoons milk
- ▢ 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ▢ Pinch of salt
Instructions
Rolls
- In a mug, microwave milk for about 20 seconds until it is lukewarm, NOT HOT (about 105-115°F.). Stir in yeast and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes until the top of the mixture looks foamy.*
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and yeast mixture, melted butter, sugar, egg yolk, and salt.
- Add the flour, a third at a time, and use a spoon to mix well, until a thick, sticky dough forms and all the flour is incorporated.
- Dump the mixture onto a well-floured work surface and knead just until the dough is no longer sticky and forms a ball (about 10 folds).
First Rise
- Place dough into a greased bowl, cover with a towel, and allow to rise in a warm place for an hour, or until doubled in size.
Shape Rolls
- Lightly grease a 6 to 7-inch baking dish.
- Stir together brown sugar and cinnamon.
- Once your dough has risen, turn out on a lightly floured surface and squish and stretch it GENTLY (we don’t want to rip it) into an oblong shape and then use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about 5 by 15 inches. Gently manipulate the corners and sides so you have a nice rectangle.
- Spread butter over the entire thing and top with the brown sugar mixture. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Roll from the short side and use a serrated knife to cut the roll into quarters. Place in prepared baking dish. (If making over night, skip to notes.)
Second Rise
- Allow the rolls to complete their second rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Bake
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Cook rolls 12-15 minutes until the tops are golden and centers cooked through (cover with foil during the last few minutes of cooking time if browning too quickly).
Espresso Glaze
- While your rolls bake, In a medium bowl, whisk together sifted powdered sugar, espresso, vanilla, and salt.
- Spoon glaze over warm rolls, serve, and enjoy.
Notes
If you’ve had a long, tiring work week, a good movie, a glass of wine, and a bowl of this Cinnamon Bun Popcorn is the very best way to celebrate its end!
For Christmas this year, family on the East Coast sent a big box of gourmet popcorn. It was basically the best Christmas gift ever because I love popcorn, and I love choices, and this was just a giant box of different popcorn flavor choices.
There was everything from jalapeño-flavored kettle corn to chocolate-covered kettle corn with crushed potato chips (POTATO CHIPS!). But my favorite flavor of the bunch was some fabulous cinnamon bun popcorn, and since I love making kettle corn, obviously I was going to try and recreate it here on the blog.
How’d the homemade version turn out? A++. I actually kind of wish I didn’t know how to make this now because I want to make it all the time…
But since I do know, I’m sharing it with you so we can all eat over-the-top popcorn together. The recipe is really simple. It’s just kettle corn made with cinnamon sugar instead of plain granulated sugar and then drizzled with white chocolate, but it’s about a thousand times more decadent.
If you’ve had a long, tiring work week, a good movie, a glass of wine, and a bowl of this Cinnamon Bun Popcorn is the very best way to celebrate its end!
As with regular kettle corn, there are a couple of things to keep in mind while cooking to avoid ending up with burned sugar and a scorched pot.
Kettle corn is not hard, BUT it’s easy to burn, so if you haven’t made kettle corn before, read over the notes below before you start, follow the instructions carefully, and don’t use a perfect pristine new pot to make your first batch in. 🙂
(If you are curious about the why behind some of these instructions, check out my post How to Make Homemade Kettle Corn Without Burning the Sugar for more details.)
Cinnamon Bun Popcorn Notes
- Use a large pot, at least 3 quarts. It’s going to seem much too big, but this gives the popcorn space to move as you shake the pot, so no sugar is trapped at the bottom burning.
- If your pan has a very tightly fitting lid that doesn’t allow steam to escape, pop the lid open just a fraction of an inch so steam can escape (I cover the lid handle with a towel and hold it on with my left hand while I shake the pan with my right). If you find your stove-top popcorn isn’t as crunchy as you’d like, it’s probably trapped steam making it soggy.
- Finally, have a tray ready dump your popcorn onto before you start. The popcorn should be poured out of the pot as soon as it’s done popping since the residual heat can still cause the sugar at the bottom of the pot to burn if left sitting.
You might also enjoy Brown Sugar Kettle Corn , The Best Snickerdoodles , and Cinnamon Sugar .
Ingredients
- ▢ 1 tablespoon coconut oil*
- ▢ 2 tablespoons unpopped popcorn
- ▢ 1 heaping tablespoon granulated sugar
- ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ▢ 1/8 teaspoon salt
- ▢ 2 tablespoons chopped white chocolate high-quality chips are fine
Instructions
- Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil (for easy clean up) and place on the counter.
- In a small bowl, stir together granulated sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
- To a large heavy-bottomed pot with a lid, add oil (if oil is in its solid state, melt over medium heat before proceeding) and 3 kernels of popcorn. Cover and heat over medium-high heat (medium if your stove runs hot) until you hear all 3 kernels pop.
- Add the rest of your popcorn and shake pan for about 5 seconds to coat the kernels. Sprinkle sugar mixture over the popcorn as evenly as you can. Cover and shake for 3 seconds, rest for 3 seconds, repeat, until popcorn begins to pop steadily.
- Once that starts, shake pan mostly continuously, pausing occasionally to listen for breaks in popping. Once there is about a 2-second break between pops, pull from heat. Transfer popcorn immediately to your prepared baking sheet.
- In a small bowl in your microwave, heat white chocolate for 30 seconds and stir until smooth. If necessary, continue to heat in 15-second bursts and stir, until smooth.
- Drizzle over popcorn–for the most even distribution, you can transfer the mixture to a plastic bag, snip off an edge and “pipe” the chocolate on. Allow chocolate 10 to 15 minutes to set, transfer to a bowl and enjoy. (Keep an eye out for unpopped kernels as you eat!)
Notes
Hawaiian Naan Pizza
Ingredients
- 2 Naan loaves
- 3/4 cup pizza sauce homemade or store-bought
- 3/4 cup ( 3 oz) shredded mozzarella
- 1 cup chopped pineapple*
- 1/2 cup ( 3 oz) chopped Canadian bacon or ham
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Assemble your pizzas, dividing the ingredients evenly between the naan.
- Bake on a cookie sheet for 12 to 14 minutes, until edges of the naan are golden and crispy and cheese melted. Slice and enjoy!
