My daughter turned four last week, and we had her friends over for an old-school birthday party: pizza, some play time, and cake. Except…instead of cake…I presented her with another pizza: this Fruit Pizza! All the kids thought it was hilarious – and then the glorious silence of small children who are too busy eating to talk!
This is incredibly easy. Just make sure you give yourself enough time for the cookie to cool before you frost it. You can use homemade sugar cookie dough, but a log of store-bought cookie dough saves time and is just as good. Decorate with any fruits you like – the more colorful the better! – but if you think you might have a lot of leftovers, save really delicate or juicy fruits – like kiwi, mandarin oranges, or bananas – until you are ready to eat it.
Fruit Pizza
Ingredients:
- 1 tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
- 6 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 – 4 tablespoons milk (optional, to thin out the frosting)
- squeeze of lemon (optional, but I like a more balanced frosting)
- 2 cups sliced fruit of your choice – berries, halved grapes, sliced kiwi, mandarin oranges, whatever you like – the more colorful, the better!
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350*F. Cover your largest baking sheet (or a pizza stone!) with parchment paper. Spread out the cookie dough into a big circle. (I put a plastic baggie over my hand because the dough was sticking and it worked well.) Flatten to about 1/4″ thick. Bake until lightly golden – it took about 22 minutes for me. Keep in mind – the dough will spread a lot! If you don’t have a very large baking sheet, you may want to make your pizza oval-shaped, just so it doesn’t climb up the sides of your baking sheet when it spreads. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. If you would like a smoother frosting, add a tablespoon of milk at a time, until you reach your desired texture. Also you can add a squeeze of lemon (it balances out the sweetness.)
- When the cookie crust is cool, cover with the frosting, but leave a border around the edges (so you can see the pizza “crust”). Decorate with sliced fruit and serve. Keep refrigerated.
Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana
To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet!
