This post is about how to make fruit pizza from scratch. Your kids will love this!
Oftentimes, we love a food due to the memories it is tied to…
Growing up my mom was always cooking and baking for us. I have so many fond memories of her cooking or baking in the kitchen. I am so grateful I still get to be the recipient of all her tasty treats. Being able to pass all of these favorites down to my kids is the best feeling.
Every summer, a common dessert on the menu was her delicious fruit pizza topped with a sweet cream cheese filling, fresh fruit, and a refreshing citrus glaze. I crave it every summer! It makes two 10-12 inch sugar cookie crusts, so it’s the perfect dessert to serve at any party you might have coming up!
Usually my mom makes these and she uses a 10 inch spring form pan, and a 10 inch quiche dish. However, I don’t even have the correct pans for this recipe! Her quiche dish is so pretty, I need to get myself one soon! The truth is…you can make any shape you want with this dough!
How To Instructions
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. The full ingredient list and traditional instructions are listed below.
The Crust:
This sugar cookie crust is a mixture of granulated sugar, powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, egg, flour, oil, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Mix all ingredients together using a hand mixer, stand mixer, or a simple spatula.
Once you have mixed the dough, take half for each crust and form into the greased spring form pan or any other pan or freehand shape you’re planning to use. You can also use parchment paper if you’d like, but it’s not necessary. Once you have them flattened into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, or until slightly browned.
Let the crusts cool completely. Once they’re cooled, you can plate them onto a platter if you used a spring form pan.
Cream Cheese Filling:
While the crusts are cooling, make your cream cheese filling. If you are only using one crust, you can freeze the other one. Now you can also decide how thick you want the filling to be, if using one crust and you want it on the thinner side, you could cut the recipe in half. Wait until the crusts have fully cooled before spreading the filling, otherwise your cream cheese may melt.
Fruit Layer:
Now it’s time to get creative! Arrange your fruit in a nice pattern, or haphazardly, whatever is your style! A few tips:
- I like to use a hard boiled egg slicer to uniformly slice fruits like kiwi, mango, banana, etc.
- If you cut a “V” shape when removing the top of the strawberry, it will make a heart shape when you slice it up.
- Berries like raspberries, blueberries and blackberries I typically just place onto the dessert rather than slicing them.
Citrus Glaze (Optional):
If you want to take the dessert to the next level, now you can start the glaze. It’s a very quick process, the longest part is waiting for it to cool so you can drizzle it on the pizza! Be sure not to over drizzle! I did that on a recent pizza and it was a little soggier than normal. If you have excess, either throw it away or use it on something else 🙂
Frequently Asked Questions:
What type of event can I make this for?
You can make this for any holiday or just for fun! Switch up the fruits for what’s in season where you live or use your favorites! That’s the best part, this recipe is very customizable.
Does this recipe need to be refrigerated?
Yes! Since you’re using cream cheese and fresh fruit, this will need to be stored in the refrigerator. Make sure you’re accounting for this when you’re deciding if you will make 1 or 2 cookie crusts!
What is the best fruit to use for this recipe?
Typically some of our favorites are kiwi, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mango, and blueberries. I would suggest staying away from fruits with very high water content, like melons, or tougher skins like oranges. You want the pizza to be easy to bite into! However, some people eat this with a fork, so that might make it easier in general!
If you love melons or oranges, you definitely can still use, but maybe try slicing the melon very thin or use canned mandarin oranges in place of fresh oranges.
If you plan to use an apple or banana, something that tends to brown with oxidation, make sure you will be serving and eating the full dessert in one sitting.
What if I don’t have a spring form pan or a 10 to 12-inch pan?
You can use any dish for this! I would say the biggest tip is to make sure it’s about 1/4 inch thick before baking.
For a large crowd I think you could totally use a large cookie sheet, just note you’d probably have to adjust your baking time. I’ll have to experiment with that next time!
For a party that you want to give everyone individual desserts, I think you definitely could cut out individual circles or shapes with cookie cutters. Another idea I’ll have to try in the future!
The best part about making a large pan or two large circle cookies is that it makes decorating with fruits quick and easy!
Recipe Questions
How many cookie crusts does this recipe make?
Two. This recipe makes two 10-12 inch cookie crusts, or you could make one larger crust, just adjust your bake time!
Do I need to double the cream cheese filling recipe?
This depends on how thick you want the filling to be on the cookie crust. Typically, my mom makes the filling recipe for 2 crusts, even though it is intended for 1 crust. I think a little more filling could be delicious so if you like a thicker layer of filling, double the recipe below!
Do I need to double the glaze recipe?
No, this makes enough glaze for all of the dough mixture. However, I would recommend cutting in half if you’re only making one crust. I think I poured a bit too much glaze on the pizzas this time, so keep that in mind too. You may have some excess…if you use too much, this could make the cookie crust soggy.
The Bloopers
I’ve been cooking and baking since I was very young. However, I still make mistakes, especially now that I’m a mom with a bunch of things happening at once! Part of the fun (and frustration) about creating in the kitchen is that sometimes things don’t go as planned. In a world where everyone shows perfection, I am happy to share that I am not perfect and neither are some of my kitchen guarantee! In this case, I only have one 10-inch spring form pan. So, since I wanted to make both crusts at once, I debated using a pie plate, but ultimately decided to wing it…by using parchment paper and the Tupperware I was hoping to store and transport the pizza in!
Well, this didn’t work out too well as you can see in the photos…I don’t think I considered any dough expansion, and it was just a bit soft for me to be moving back and forth trying to figure out if it would fit.
Don’t let fear of failure stop you from learning how to bake or cook new things. I can guarantee while things may not always look as you planned, they’re just as delicious!
The BEST Fruit Pizza Kids (and Adults) Will Love
Equipment
- 2 Springform Pan (or other 10 inch pan, like a quiche pan dish)
- 1 Mixer I use a stand mixer, but a hand mixer would work well too!
- 1 spatula used to spread cream cheese mixture
- parchment paper, optional, but this can be helpful to prevent the cookie from sticking to the pan
Ingredients
Crust (Makes 2)
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup vegetable/canola oil
- 1 egg
- 2.13 cups flour (2 cups + 2 tbsp)
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp vanilla
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Fruit Layer
- Use whatever you think your crowd will like best!
- Strawberries sliced
- Raspberries
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Kiwi sliced
- Mango sliced
- Mandarin Oranges
- Grapes
Citrus Glaze (Optional)
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup orange juice
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup sugar
Instructions
Crust Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Grease 2 12-inch spring form pans (with removable bottoms). (See note).
- Mix all crust ingredients well blended.½ cup sugar, ½ cup powdered sugar, ½ cup butter, ½ cup vegetable/canola oil, 1 egg, 2.13 cups flour, ½ tsp cream of tartar, ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp vanilla
- Divide dough into 2, one for each pan. Put each ball into a pan and then flatten with your hands. Build up a slight rim around the end of the pan.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool completey.
- Carefully remove crust from pan (if using spring form pan), and onto a platter. *You can freeze one of the two crusts if you only need one*
Cream Cheese Filling
- The filling ingredients are intended to be used on one crust, however, I sometimes like a thinner cream cheese filling layer, so I use one batch of cream cheese filling for TWO crusts. Depending how thick you want your cream cheese filling, you may want to double this filling.
- Cream together cream cheese filling ingredients.8 oz cream cheese, ⅓ cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla
- Spread on crust evenly.
Fruit Layer
- Arrange fruit on top in decorative pattern. Use fruits that complement your celebration!Valentines Day: Strawberries, Raspberries, Pomegranates, etc.Easter: Any Fruits!Memorial Day, Independence Day & Labor Day: Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries, BlackberriesThanksgiving: Strawberries, Raspberries, canned Mandarin Oranges, Mango, PomegranatesChristmas: Kiwi, Strawberries, Raspberries
- Refrigerate, then move on to making the glaze.
Citrus Glaze
- Combine all ingredients by combining all ingredients in a small saucepan.½ cup water, ½ cup orange juice, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp cornstarch, ¼ cup sugar
- Bring to boil and boil for 1 minute.
- Cool completely, you do not want to melt the cream cheese layer.
- Spread over fruit layer.
- Refrigerate until serving.
Notes
- Other will work for this too, but if you want a certain presentation, go for a nice quiche dish or spring form pan so you can transfer to a pretty platter. I have never tried in a 9×13 pan or cut out into individual cookies, but I definitely think you could!
- The glaze is delicious, but the pizza is good without it if you’re shorter on time and can’t wait for it to cool.
Very refreshing dessert on a hot summer day! Delicious!