Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza

whole fruit pizza beautifully topped with oranges, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries, and more.

5 from 1 vote

Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza from The Food Charlatan. This is the BEST summer dessert. A soft and tender sugar cookie "crust" (that has the same secret ingredient as my Soft Sugar Cookies), topped with cream cheese frosting, and decorated with peak summer fruit. I LOVE the combination of these flavors! If you have never made this, now is the time! Fruit pizza is great for Easter, Mother's Day, bridal showers, potlucks in spring or summer, or really anytime you want fruity sunshine in your life!

Prep Time30

Cook Time20

Chill time20

Total Time1 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 416kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Equipment

1 pizza pan
foil (if your pizza pan has crisping holes)

Ingredients

For the sugar cookie base

3/4 cup salted butter softened (1 and 1/2 sticks)
4 ounces cream cheese* softened (half package)
1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 and 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch

For the cream cheese frosting

12 ounces cream cheese* softened (1 and 1/2 packages)
1/4 cup butter softened (half stick)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Fruit options:

1 (11 ounce) can mandarin ornages drained
2 cup strawberries sliced
2 cups blueberries
1 cup raspberries
4 kiwi peeled and sliced

For the glaze:

2 tablespoons apricot jam or preserves

Instructions

In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat 3/4 cup softened butter on medium speed until it is lighter in color and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
Add 4 ounces (half a package) of softened cream cheese and continue to beat for 1 minute, until well incorporated. Don't forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix it in.
Add 1 and 1/2 cups granulated sugar and beat well, 1-2 minutes, until fluffy.
Add 1 egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 and 3/4 teaspoon almond extract. Beat well. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula.
Use a spoon to add flour to a measuring cup, then level it off. You need 3 cups of flour, spooned and leveled. Add the flour to the bowl with the butter, but don't mix it in yet.
Add 1 teaspoon kosher (or sea) salt and 1 teaspoon cornstarch to the flour and use your teaspoon to stir it in. Then use the beaters to mix until just barely combined, scraping the sides and bottom again. Do not stir too much or you will make your dough tough. The dough is pretty sticky!
Line a 12-inch pizza pan** with parchment paper. If your pizza pan has holes, be sure to line with foil first, see note.
Scoop the dough onto the parchment paper on the pan, and use your hands to press the dough into the edges. Get your hands a little damp if the dough is too sticky. The dough should be about 3/8 inch thick all the way across.
Refrigerate. Place the pan in the refrigerator for about 30-45 minutes, until completely chilled. You can also put it in the freezer if you have room, it should be chilled in about 20 minutes.
Partway through the chill time, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make sure it preheats for at least 15 minutes.
When the dough is completely chilled, place the pan of dough in the oven and bake for about 20-23 minutes. Check the pan every 1-2 minutes when it starts to get close. The crust is done baking when it has a very light golden hue all across the top. It should not be shiny. The edges will be slightly more browned but not much. Do NOT over bake!
Let the crust cool in the pan completely. (You can stick it in the fridge if you are in a hurry.)
Make the frosting: In a (clean) bowl or stand mixer, add 12 ounces (1 and 1/2 packages) cream cheese and 1/4 cup softened butter. Beat for about 1-2 minutes, taking the time to scrape the bottom and edges of the bowl, to make sure it is all getting smooth. If you have any lumps in your mixture right now, there will be lumps in your frosting. Make sure you beat until the entire mixture is smooth and creamy.
Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Lemon juice is optional but I love the way it brightens up the frosting, which can sometimes taste cloying without it. Beat well.
Add 1 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Be sure to sift the powdered sugar if it looks clumpy. Add 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, maybe a pinch more if you are like me. Beat the powdered sugar in, scraping the sides, until it's totally smooth.
When the crust is cooled, use an offset spatula to spread the frosting all over the top, making sure to cover the edges well. Do this right away, even if your fruit isn't ready, so that the frosting has time to seep into the crust and start softening the edges (and prevent it from drying out.) Put it in the refrigerator to chill.
Prepare the fruit: Drain the mandarin oranges. Slice the strawberries. Peel and slice the kiwi.
Decorate with fruit: Take two hours to arrange the fruit in concentric circles, like the psychopath that you are. OR use the sprinkle method and just toss is all on haphazardly (I promise it will still look pretty) Or you could do groupings of fruit like I show in the photos of the rectangular pan. (a pile of blueberries here, fan of kiwi there, etc.) Don't stress about it too much!
Glaze: Add 2 tablespoons apricot jam to a bowl and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds, until it is thin and drippy. If you have preserves, press the hot preserves through a strainer to get all the lumps out. It should be a smooth glaze.
Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the fruit on the pizza with the hot jam.
Refrigerate the fruit pizza until ready to serve. Place toothpicks upright all across the top and tent with plastic wrap, if it will be a few hours.
Serve. Slice the pizza using a chef's knife, into pizza shape slices, or you can do it in squares. Squares end up being a much more manageable serving size, but I get it if you really want to serve "pizza"!
Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The cookie and frosting will last longer than the fruit. If you want, after a couple days, take all the fruit off and add new fruit, if you want it fresh.

Notes

*Cream Cheese: You will need 2 full blocks of cream cheese for this recipe! I don't list ingredients together that are divided in the recipe, because I can't TELL you how many times I read a recipe wrong and add the full amount of the ingredient in whatever the first step is that uses it. Don't be like me! 🤣 4 ounces (half a package) goes in the cookie dough; the remaining 12 ounces (1 and 1/2 packs) go in the frosting.

**Pizza Pan: Make sure your pizza pan doesn't have holes in it (or if it does, make sure to line with foil) Many pizza pans are dotted with small holes to help crisp the bottom of a pizza crust, but that's not what we want here. We want a nice soft cookie base. My pizza pan has holes, so I wrapped the pan tightly in heavy duty aluminum foil, and then still used a piece of parchment paper to put the dough on. It worked great!

Different pan sizes options: You can make this recipe in a few different size pans:

12-inch pizza pan (no holes, or line with foil)
15 x 10 inch jelly roll pan
Use a half baking sheet, but roll the crust out to be about 15 x 9 inches. It should be about 3/8 inch thick all across.

Other fruit ideas: You can top your fruit pizza with whatever fruit your little heart desires. Top contenders:

red, green, black grapes
blackberries
sliced banana (be sure to brush with apricot glaze to prevent browning)
pineapple, chopped very small so it's easy to bite into
very ripe peeled peach
halved cherries
mango
dragonfruit

Nutrition