THE best summer recipe & SO versatile!

Seriously, if you have never made this, you NEED to.

We are coming in to local Strawberry season and they go GREAT on this!

On what?

Well, fruit pizza of course!

Think crunchy/chewy cookie crust, a sweetened cream cheese layer, and then an array of fruit.....
mmmmmmmmm, what could be better!? This is truly THE best summer recipe. It's cool and light and refreshing. :)

There are many ways to make this. But all of them start with sugar cookie, the refridgerator/frozen kind. Have a pizza tray or stone ready, then slice the cookies as you normally would. Starting at the center of the pizza tray, arrange the slices so they are barely touching. (there will be gaps, that's ok - they will fill in as the cookies bake and spread.) Go ahead and put that into a 350 oven and bake until the edges are nice and golden.

While that is cooking you can make the 'sauce' which is really a cream cheese spread. And THIS is where the variations begin.

 

Photo by By gotshoo on flickr

I make mine with one block of cream cheese (slightly softened) mixed with one container cool whip. Others use a block of cream cheese and a 1/4 cup sugar. Some add a splash of orange juice to it. You can do any of those, and if you are cutting back on sugar I am sure you could omit that and it would still be lovely as the cookie crust is very sweet.

After removing the cookie crust from the oven you want to let it cool completely. While you are waiting on that you can get your fruit cut up. And that is, of course, the next variable. You can add whatever fruits you want! Some faves: banana, kiwi, strawberry, raspberries, blueberries. But you can add any that you like, just make sure the 'wetter' fruits (like pineapple) are drained very well.

Once the cookie is cool you are ready to put it all together! Spread your cream cheese mixture over the cookie crust, getting up near the edges, then top with the fruit.

More variations
 - you can warm some preserves if you'd like and drizzle it over the top.
 - drizzle chocolate over the top
 - create individual serving sizes rather than one large 'pie'
 - sprinkle coconut over top
 - cook in a rectangle shape and use red and blue fruit as a flag for July 4th!

However you make it - ENJOY!!!!

Post by Janice Fowler of Doxallo Studio and Doxallo Designs