I’ve been debating whether I should have a special day that I share recipes. Kinda lame right? Take out Tuesday? Nah. I’ll just share what I have, and if you like, make it yourself and we’ll all eat the yumminess and be happy!

Last weekend we got together with Tom’s family for dinner, and I was craving a light dessert. With the weather turning nicer, something a little lighter is in order, right? I made Toffee Tiramisu a few weeks ago and it was SUPER yummy but really rich (I’ll share that one later!) so I wanted something lighter and not quite as thick. Enter – FRUIT PIZZA!

When I first told Tom I was making this, he thought I was crazy. He was thinking pizza dough with marinara sauce with fruit on top. Umm gross. And because explaining these things can sometimes make the situation worse when it comes to recipes, I just told him that that wasn’t it, to trust me, he would like it. He went with it, and wasn’t disappointed!

So here we go! I’ve warned you in past posts that I don’t really work with recipes most of the time, so I’ll share with you what I used, but just know that it can be fudged a bit. If you want it a little sweeter, add more sugar – no judgment here my friends! If strawberries rock your world but you could do without blueberries, just cut those bad boys right out of there. Do what makes you and your family happy!

Basic recipe:

1 tube sugar cookie dough
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Lots of assorted, cut up fruit

And here…. we… GO! (Dark Knight… LOVE it!)

So first, take your sugar cookie dough and cut the wrapper off.

Plop it onto a pizza pan (I love Pampered Chef stoneware, but that’s a story for another time) and press it out into a “crust.” At this point, normal people would use a rolling pin. I don’t know that I’ve ever been described as normal, but that’s probably another story to save for later. Anywho, I couldn’t find my rolling pin. So I used the next best thing – my extremely clean hands. Kaden rolls his eyes at me when he bakes with me because I’m constantly making him wash his hands. You touched your hair? Wash your hands. I get attitude every time. Just wait until he’s older, then he’ll understand! These damn whippersnappers… wow okay now I’m feeling old. Moving right along! Roll it out, until you have a crust. And if you decide to go with the Super Cool Brooke Method of using your fingers, it will look something like this – finger marks and all:

Pop it into the oven. Which of course, at this point will be preheated. See why I can’t write cookbooks? I assume people know these things. One of my friends used to get frustrated with my “recipes” that she requested because they didn’t have step by step instructions. So read the packaging to find out what temperature, I believe it was 400 degrees, and pop it into the oven. Now here’s the key with fruit pizza, and something that I learned the hard way. OVERBAKE the cookie. Why, you ask? Why shouldn’t I just follow the directions? Well for one, the directions are meant for lots of smaller individual sized cookies. Which take less time to bake. Plus, when you put all of the goodies on the cookie, it will soak up some of the moisture. So you don’t want it really moist to begin with, or you’ll have a sloppy mess. So overbake it. Don’t BURN it, just bake it until it’s a little more brown than you usually would for the smaller ones.

Okay. While that’s baking, let’s do the top of the pizza.

Now for the sauce. Frosting. Icing. Cream cheese. Whatever you want to call it. Since we’re going with the pizza theme, we’ll go with sauce. This is where you’ll need the cream cheese (make sure it’s softened!), vanilla, and sugar. Here’s a little secret: I never measure vanilla. GASP! BAKING SACRILEGE! Eh… a little more vanilla never hurt anyone, right? Plus, why dirty measuring spoons that are ALL TIED TOGETHER (what’s up with that?) when you don’t need to? Less clean up.

SO! Put those three ingredients in a bowl, and beat them. I used a handheld mixer, but if you’ve had a bad day, use a whisk and knock yourself out. And when you’re done, you should have a creamy mixture that looks something like this, vanilla spots on the side of the bowl and all:

Once that’s done, your cookie probably still won’t be done, so you can get started on the fruit. Now here’s what’s fun – use WHATEVER FRUIT YOU WANT! Yay! You can use canned fruit (think peaches, pineapple, mandarin oranges) or fresh fruit. Frozen doesn’t work so well because of the moisture, but if you REALLY want frozen fruit, no one will stop you. Here’s the key to using any fruit that isn’t really fresh, or really moist fruit: lay the fruit out on a dry paper towel as you’re working. So for instance, while you’re cutting up the canned peaches, keep them on a paper towel. This will take some of the moisture off of them so they don’t get soggy on top of your pizza. Another hint – if you’re going for presentation, use lots of colors. So don’t use all orange fruit. Or red fruit. Mix it up a bit and go crazy. Kiwis are an awesome addition because of the green, they just didn’t have any at the store when I went. And when you’re done cutting, you’ll have pretty little bowls of colorful fruit!

I didn’t say to wash the fruit first. Again, something I assume… always wash fresh produce. Another reason for that paper towel – get all the excess water off!

Once the cookie is done (and it will smell DAMN good!) take it out of the oven and LET IT COOL! Let me repeat that – LET IT COOL OFF! If you try to put the sauce on it while it’s warm, it will melt off and run all over the place. Let your cookie cool, pretty please with sugar on top. I promise you’ll be happier.

Once it’s cool, spread the sauce on like you would a pizza, leaving a little bit of a border around the outside for the “crust” of the pizza. Then layer your fruit on top. Some people just kind of sprinkle it on, I like to have a little more of an order with the bottom layer, some of us are more OCD than others. Arrange the fruit on top however you’d like it, and pop it in the fridge for a little bit. It will look yummy, and taste even better! Take it to your family function, or to bed with you at midnight for a little snack, or hide it in the fridge away from the kiddos so that you can have it for mommies night.

Whatever you decide to do with it, enjoy! Happy Tuesday. :)