Recipe: Fast & Fabulous Fruit Pizza

Light, fresh and dressy yet casual in appearance, this fast and fabulous fruit pizza personifies the essence of spring and summer and is a perfect addition to dining alfresco.

Served as a happy ending to any meal—breakfast, lunch or dinner—this treat can also be set out as an appetizer as it is delightfully sweet but not sickeningly so, and won’t spoil your appetite or taste for other foods.

Sure to be a hit with guests, fruit pizza appeals to people of all ages and is colorful and nearly effortless to make. In fact, my kids helped slice the fruit and decorate the pizza in these photos and I think they did a beautiful job! (For any of you with little ones, this is a great project to get them introduced to cooking.)

Prepared in a snap using whatever fruits are in season, you can also save money by choosing fruits on sale at your local market.

Recipe: Fast & Fabulous Fruit Pizza

(recipe courtesy Inn Cuisine, adapted over the years from potluck suppers and social functions)

• 1 tube refrigerated Sugar Cookie Dough
• 1 container (8 ounces) Mascarpone Cheese, softened at room temperature for at least 15 minutes
• 1 block (8 ounces) regular Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature for at least 15 minutes
• 1 cup Confectioners (Powdered) Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Bean Paste (or pure vanilla extract if you don’t have the paste)
• various, colorful Fruits – washed, sliced and prepared

In the pizza pictured above, we used approximately 5 sliced kiwi fruits, 2 cups of fresh strawberries, 1 cup of sliced cantaloupe, 1/2 cup of halved grapes and 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries (as one of my friends calls them…kid fruits).

Feel free to experiment with any fresh fruits of your choosing (might I suggest going tropical with pineapples, mango, papaya, passion fruit and a splash of citrus!) but bear in mind if you use bananas, you’ll need to first treat the slices with lemon juice or lemon lime soda to prevent browning.

Using a round pizza pan or baking stone (you can use a rectangular jelly roll pan if you don’t have a round, pizza pan on hand,) simply roll out sugar cookie dough evenly to the edges without going over the sides. Bake dough in preheated oven according to the directions on package, typically 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes. Bake dough until just set and top crust is pale, golden brown.

When dough is baked, remove from oven and allow to cool. Now is a great time to wash, dry and slice the fruit (if necessary.)

After the fruit is prepared, make the cream cheese base by combining mascarpone, cream cheese, confectioners sugar and vanilla bean paste in a medium-sized bowl. Blend thoroughly by hand or using a mixer until base is soft and creamy like a thick icing.

Spread the cream cheese base over pre-baked sugar cookie dough in a nice, even layer. Next, decide on a pattern to decorate your pizza (get creative!) and lay the fruit out in your chosen design in a single layer.

Slice the finished pizza in manageable, triangular shaped sections (or in squares if you prefer) and serve immediately. If not serving immediately, cover tightly and chill until ready to use, not more than a few hours in advance. Leftover pizza will generally store for up to 1 day in the refrigerator, but any longer and the crust tends to get unacceptably soggy.

Have fun and enjoy!

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Tagged as: dessert pizza recipe, fruit pizza, fruit pizza recipe, fruit recipe