If you want to bring a dessert dish to a church or family potluck, and you want to do something easy but also something that will catch people’s interest, fruit pizza is the way to go. For one, it’s super easy (as mentioned in the title 😉 ), for two, the level of creativity is entirely up to you so you can make that as hard or easy as you’d like. I’m nowhere as good a decorator as I’d like to be, so I kept it simple, but I have seen some seriously awesome fruit pizzas. You can make a patriotic fruit pizza for the Fourth of July, which is coming up shortly. Just Google ‘4th of July Fruit Pizza’ and you’ll find tons of pictures to copy the design from. I’ve seen tropical fruit pizzas for pool parties, fruit pizzas in the shape of an egg for Easter…but only recently did I see the idea for individual fruit pizzas. I know. I’ve been hiding under a rock. 😉 Considering I’ve never made a fruit pizza…individual fruit pizzas just seemed easier. And I LOVE easy when it comes to baking & cooking.

Instead of making apple pie for Father’s Day this year, which my husband requests every year, I suggested individual fruit pizzas. He wasn’t exactly excited about the sound of fruit pizza, but I don’t think he expected a cookie topped with cream cheese frosting as the base for the fruit. With both the kids home from college this weekend (they’re attending South Dakota State University), I made the executive decision to go ahead and make them. My family used to make regular personal-pan pizzas for dinner since we all like our own toppings (I can’t do jalapenos and the kids hate my white-sauce pizzas with broccoli and chicken), so individual fruit pizzas were the perfect idea for us.

My husband likes bananas and strawberries. I’m not a fan of bananas, so I went with blackberries, strawberries, and kiwi. My two girls hate kiwi, banana, and blueberries, so they went with ONLY strawberries. As you can see…the individual fruit pizza was definitely a good idea when it comes to the four of us.

If heading to a party/potluck, I would make a large cookie on a pizza pan (A new one. Not the grease-stained pan you bought five years ago.) and roll out the sugar cookie dough. That way you can keep the cookie on the pan and decorate from there. Otherwise, trying to get that large cookie onto another pan would be a pain in the arse. Just take the cookie out of the oven a minute or so early, since it will be sitting on a hot pan and will continue to cook.

When it comes to the family, I will always make fruit pizza this way. I also just used refrigerated sugar cookie dough because I’m lazy like that. Tastes just fine. I’m a foodie in the sense that I love food, but I hate slaving away in the kitchen. This recipe happens to be the combination of about four different recipes I tried (in my attempt to make it super simple). Although…there happens to be a simpler way to make the cream cheese frosting, only I think it’s kinda gross: If you like a tangier taste in your cream cheese frosting, you can make cream cheese frosting with 8 oz of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of regular sugar, and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Just mix those three ingredients and you’re good to go. (It was super tangy to me, though, so I had to go in search of another recipe for the cream cheese frosting.) So…this is the recipe I ended up with…

Ingredients:

• One Tube of Refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough
• 8 oz Cream Cheese
• 1/4 Cup Butter
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 4 Cups of Powdered Sugar
• Fruit
  • Strawberries
  • Blueberries
  • Blackberries
  • Kiwi
  • Bananas
  • Peaches
  • Whatever Fruit Tickles Your Fancy

Directions:

• Cook the sugar cookie dough according to the directions on the package. Create individual cookies or spread the dough in your preferred pan. I sifted a little bit of all-purpose flour on the pan so the cookies wouldn’t stick.
• Make the cream cheese frosting while the cookies are baking in the oven. Mix together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract and powdered sugar. Set aside.
• Once the cookies are baked and cooled (DO NOT SKIP THE COOLING PROCESS), spread the prepared cream cheese frosting on top of the cookie. (I microwaved my cream cheese frosting for ten seconds to make it spread easier.)
• Top with fruit of your choice.

I would recommend serving within the hour. If you’re taking the fruit pizza to a luncheon or party, I would suggest making the cookies and frosting the night before to make life a little easier. Just bake your cookies, cool, and put in an air-tight container. Same with the frosting, only put the container in the fridge. Also, you can cut up your fruit the night before (not the bananas) and store in an air-tight Tupperware container and store in the refrigerator overnight. Cut the bananas the next day to keep the pieces from turning brown, or just omit completely. I would. Just before leaving the house, put the cream cheese frosting on the cookie and arrange the fruit on top. Otherwise, the cream cheese frosting turns color with the blue/blackberries and such. Plus the cookie can get soggy.

If you have a favorite summer recipe, share it with us!

Enjoy!