Fruit Pizza with Sugar Cookie Crust and Fluffy Cream Cheese Topping

This Easy Fruit Pizza recipe has the best, super-fluffy cream cheese frosting and an easy sugar cookie base.  You can make fun, beautiful fruit designs into Easter eggs, a patriotic flag for Memorial Day or Canada Day, or any holiday.

This Fruit Pizza recipe has the best, fluffy cream cheese frosting and an easy sugar cookie base.  You can make fun, beautiful fruit designs into Easter eggs, a patriotic flag for Memorial Day or Canada Day, or any holiday.

A fruit pizza follows the *crust, sauce, toppings* formula that earned it the name, but (thankfully) it is not actually a pizza in any other sense, as there are strictly only dessert ingredients. Not a tomato to be found.

The crisp, chewy sugar cookie “crust” belies a pillowy cream cheese frosting layer and various cut fresh fruit toppings are arranged artfully on top to make your friends think you have mad pastry skillz.

This super-pretty dessert is quickly gaining Pinterest popularity for good reason. Not only is it beautiful, it is fresh and delicious, and a perfect dish to bring to a summer party.

This Easy Fruit Pizza recipe has the best, super-fluffy cream cheese frosting and an easy sugar cookie base.  You can make fun, beautiful fruit designs into Easter eggs, a patriotic flag for Memorial Day or Canada Day, or any holiday.

How to Make a Fruit Pizza

Start with the sugar cookie crust. I love to use the super simple reverse-creaming method for this yummy giant sugar cookie.

  • Measure all your dry ingredients into a bowl and add the softened butter directly to this flour mixture.
  • Use an electric mixer to incorporate the butter until the whole mess looks like damp, coarse crumbs (if you use a stand mixer, it may even come together into a dough).

This easy method eliminates the separate step of *actually* creaming butter. Instead, we coat the flour in fat before any liquids are added. This prevents any cookie-toughening gluten from forming, resulting in an ultra-tender and delicious cookie base that holds its shape well.

  • Roll the cookie base out between sheets of parchment. It’s super sticky so pop it in the freezer if it is difficult to work with. It should be rolled out to about the size of a “pizza”, but of course there’s wiggle room.
  • Start by finding your serving plate and roll out your dough base according to what will fit on it. There’s nothing worse than making a beautifully decorated pizza only to realize that it won’t fit on any of your serving platters (speaking from personal experience – whoops).

Many people bake fruit pizzas on a 14-inch pizza pan, but it’s not a necessary piece of equipment. I just bake mine on a large baking sheet.

While the cookie bakes, whip up the cream cheese topping. Many fruit pizza recipes use a true cream cheese *frosting*, but mine is an ultra-fluffy cream cheese filling closer to a cheesecake. Consider it a win.

  • Whip some heavy cream to peaks.
  • Whip some cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and (optional) lemon juice.
  • Fold the two together by adding the whipped cream to the cream cheese bowl and using a large spatula to scoop under the mixture and fold it on top, cutting through the middle of the bowl between strokes. It’s just a gentler way of stirring than going at ‘er with a big wooden spoon like a witch at a cauldron, but don’t sweat it too much.
This Easy Fruit Pizza recipe has the best, super-fluffy cream cheese frosting and an easy sugar cookie base.  You can make fun, beautiful fruit designs into Easter eggs, a patriotic flag for Memorial Day or Canada Day, or any holiday.

How do you keep fruit pizza from getting soggy?

The moisture in the filling and especially the fruit will seep into the base if assembled too early, which can cause it to get soft. See notes below on how to prepare it in advance for best results.

Another trick? Melt 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips on medium power of the microwave for 1-2 minutes. Spread this over the cookie base and let it harden completely before adding the frosting and fruit. This boss trick is used by French pastry chefs when assembling tarts with creamy fillings to keep the crust from getting soggy.

How early can you make fruit pizza? Will fruit pizza keep overnight?

A fully-assembled fruit pizza is best if served within 4 hours of topping it. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and keep it cold until just before serving. How long will it keep? Leftovers are fine for 3 days, but the crust will soften, the fruit may also get soggy and the filling may separate a bit. It will still be tasty, but may not be at its best for serving guests.

You can make the cookie base in advance by up to 3 days. You can prep the cream filling ahead by a day too, but don’t assemble until right before serving.

If you want to make a fruit pizza ahead, here’s what to do:

  • Prep the individual components and store separately.
  • Refrigerate the filling in covered medium bowl.
  • Leave the cookie base tightly-wrapped at room temperature (the fridge makes it dry out faster)
  • Prep any fruit that will not brown ahead, but save choices like banana slices (which brown aggressively) for prepping at the last minute.

What kind of fruit should you put on fruit pizza?

Small fruit or any fruit cut small will work. I avoid fruits that brown quickly such as apples and pears, or anything super hard that will make slicing difficult. I like:

  • Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries or any fresh berries. Here’s how I cut strawberries into hearts:
  • Ripe mangoes
  • Kiwi
  • Grapes
  • Mandarin oranges
  • Slice peaches
  • Banana Slices
  • Thinly-sliced pineapple
  • Drained canned fruits are fine, but thawed frozen fruits aren’t a good choice. They lose texture and seep their juices.

Choose a variety of colours and have fun! The more slices or servings you want to make, the smaller you should cut your fruit to make it easier to slice without ruining your design.

Other Creamy Fresh Fruit Recipes

This Fruit Pizza recipe has the best, fluffy cream cheese frosting and an easy sugar cookie base.  You can make fun, beautiful fruit designs into Easter eggs, a patriotic flag for Memorial Day or Canada Day, or any holiday.

Fruit Pizza

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Servings 8
Dessert
American
Keyword Fruit Pizza, Fruit Pizza with Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
  

For cookie base:

  • 1 ¼ cup flour
  • ¾ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp kosher salt
  • 3.5 oz unsalted butter room temperature, cut in 1” chunks (7 tbsp)
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For cream topping:

  • cup whipping cream
  • 1 8-oz brick cream cheese room temperature
  • cup granulated sugar
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp lemon juice optional, but nice

To assemble

  • 2 cups mixed fresh fruit sliced, chopped or left whole if small

Instructions
 

  • In stand mixer, combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Beat on low speed to combine.
  • Add butter directly to dry ingredients and continue beating on low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes (mixture will resemble coarse crumbs). Beat in egg and vanilla until a smooth dough forms. Transfer dough to parchment paper and form into a disc. *See notes below for tips.
  • Chill for 30 minutes. Roll out into a 10” circle and transfer to a large baking sheet. Chill again while you preheat the oven to 350ºF, then bake for about 12 minutes or until golden at edges and the surface appears dry.
  • Let cool completely. While crust cools, prepare cream topping.
  • Whip the cream to firm peaks and set aside.
  • Beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until light, fluffy and shiny (it should be airy like buttercream frosting — if cream cheese is too cold to whip up smoothly, warm the bowl with a hot, damp towel). It could take several minutes.
  • Fold in the whipped cream gently to preserve the air bubbles. Spread over cooled crust.*See notes below on how to fold.
  • At this point, you may top with the fruit or chill the pizza base. Arrange fruit over the filling just before serving.

Video

Notes

See article for suggestions on kinds of fruit to use (or avoid).
NOTES ON THE DOUGH: 
  • The dough is very sticky at first. Use the parchment paper to form it into a rough disk shape. 
  • Place a second sheet of parchment on top and roll out the dough while it’s soft. 
  • Don’t worry about rolling it into a perfect circle, you can tidy it up before baking with a pizza cutter or a paring knife, and/or you can trim it to perfection after baking.
  • Pop the rolled out dough in the freezer while you preheat the oven.
HOW TO FOLD: Fold ingredients together by adding the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture and using a large spatula to scoop under the mixture and fold it back on top. Repeat, cutting through the middle of the bowl between strokes, until combined.
It’s just a gentler way of stirring than going at ‘er with a big wooden spoon like a witch at a cauldron, but don’t sweat it too much.

Nutrition

Calories: 346kcalCarbohydrates: 52gProtein: 3gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0.4gCholesterol: 59mgSodium: 102mgPotassium: 97mgFiber: 1gSugar: 35gVitamin A: 671IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 1mg
Keyword Fruit Pizza, Fruit Pizza with Cream Cheese Frosting

Last Updated on April 27, 2023 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD

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Karen
Karen
1 year ago

5 stars
Oh wow, Jenn…..that looks delicious. I must try this for my next coffee get together.
Thank you for sharing. There are some really good tips for making this.🤤
Although I haven’t tried it yet,I rated this dish a 5 for plating.🙂

Lisa
Lisa
1 year ago

If I want to do this in a rectangle, which size baking pan would work? 9×13? or should it be bigger?

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