Fruit Pizza

There are some things that just scream summertime... baseball, peaches, beach towels, bug spray... and fruit pizza! The ultimate time to make this sweet pizza is when the fruit is fresh and ripe, and most of the time, local (except, in this case for the pineapple and banana, demanded by the boyfriend). This is a killer recipe that will knock anyone's socks off with the beautiful presentation, the layers of texture and, of course, the taste! I brought it to my boyfriend's mother's cookout and they loved it!

Fruit Pizza 

The beauty of this recipe is that you can make most of the components the night before, like the crust and the glaze.

Sugar Cookie Crust:

Ingredients: 

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar 

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix first four ingredients together until fluffy. Then add: 

1-1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Directions: refrigerate for one hour, then spread on 9-13 greased pan or make individual fruit pizzas by placing them on smaller round pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Cool. 

Creamy Center: 

Ingredients: 

8 oz. cool whip 

8 oz. cream cheese (softened) 

1/3 cup sugar

Directions: Mix together and spread on cooled crust. Top with fruit of your choice. Here I used strawberries, black raspberries, pineapple and bananas. My favorite combo is peaches, black raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. Kiwi and grapes are also nice on these pizzas.

Glaze: 

 The citric acid from the juice in the glaze works keep the fruit from turning brown. Be sure to coat the fruit in it, but don't overdo it. The citrus taste can dominate the rest of the fruit, and we don't want that.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

dash of salt

1/2 cup orange juice

2 TB lemon juice

1/2 cup cold water

1 TB cornstarch

Mix first four ingredients together in a saucepan. In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup cold water with 1 TB cornstarch, then add to juice mixture and cook on medium heat until thick, stirring constantly. Let cool, then pour over fruit. 

There are a lot of steps to this recipe, but it really is not hard. The only part that is difficult is trying to stop eating it when it's done!