Fruit Pizza?

Who in the heck would put fruit on a pizza?

Yuck! Two items I would never think to combine in a recipe. Yet when my friend Dawn made this for our skating team several years ago, people couldn't get enough of it. It brought them to their knees. The texture, the wonderful combination of tastes....fabulous!!! It's a recipe that's been around for a while, but since there's always that one person who will ask "How did you make this?", I thought I'd just show you. It is such an unusual combination, but it works.

Since that day, I have re-created her recipe at least twenty times, however over the last few years I have omitted using the semi-translucent orange/lemon glaze that was supposed to blanket the top of the "pizza". I didn't care for the taste (a bit too sugary for my liking) and I also felt it covered up the beautiful colors of the fruit. Instead I added a sprinkling of mini chocolate chips (newsflash...I used chocolate) and sometimes (when no one is looking) I even sneak in a drizzle of melted chocolate. The result is as beautiful to look at as it is delicious to eat.

You will need:

A round pizza-style pan

1 -16 oz. Pillsbury Sugar Cookie Dough

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

12 oz. whipped Cream Cheese

1 Cup of Granulated Sugar

2 Cups of Strawberries, sliced

1 Cup Green Grapes (halved)

2/3 cup large, fresh Blueberries

1 Medium sized Banana (semi-green)

1 Can of Mandarin Oranges

1 Can of Chunk Pineapple

1 fresh Kiwi Fruit

Feel free to explore the produce section of your market. Almost any combination of fruits will work...........except maybe grapefruit (ugh).....or even worse, prunes.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Open the package of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. You may have to sprinkle your work area with a little flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Using a rolling pin, flatten the dough as much as you can. Transfer it to the pan and use the palm of your hand to flatten it to the edges all around. Trim away all the excess dough that hangs over the pan and gently give the edges a nice "crimp" before popping it into the oven to bake.

Ahh, just a little "heads up" here.....although it looks pretty, make sure that you are paying attention (ahem!) to what you are doing when you crimp the edges of the cookie dough. You do not want the edge to hang over the side of the pan at all. Cookie dough does not behave the way a pie dough does. Instead of crisping in place, the dough will rise and spill out all over the bottom of your oven. (My whole house had a burned cookie dough smell for days.....I'm still airing out.)

Now the idea here is to have your cookie "pizza" crust on the soft and chewy side rather than the hard and crunchy side, although it's probably a matter of personal taste. The cookie dough recipe calls for a 12 minute baking time, but I like to eyeball it as well. As soon as I see the cookie dough starting to brown, I take it out of the oven and set it aside to cool completely.

I use my wooden pizza peel to take pans in and out of the oven. Wow, I can't even remember the last time that I used it to actually make pizza. I bought it almost twenty years ago and it is one of the most invaluable kitchen tools that I own.

I prepare all of the fruit while the cookie crust is cooling. Any canned fruit that you decide to use must be completely liquid-free. I usually drain all of the juices then lightly pat the fruit with paper towel to remove any excess. All fresh fruit should be washed and also lightly patted dry with paper towel. The bananas are the only "high maintenance" fruit here. I usually hold off on putting banana slices on until just before I serve. I always try to select greenish-yellow bananas as they usually don't turn brown as quickly.

Place the whipped cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and mix it together, preferably with an electric mixer. In order for the sugar to dissolve into the cream cheese, I try to mix it for about two minutes. Make sure the cookie crust is completely cool, then using a large spatula, "frost" the top of the cookie with the cream cheese mixture bringing it almost to the edge all the way around.

Then, arrange the fruit on top of the cream cheese mixture, sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and if you'd like, some chocolate syrup. I sometimes like to serve this with a giant delicate dollop of Ben & Jerry's fat-free Cool Whip on the side.

Finito!

Now I think it's worth mentioning here that you could also do a variation of this recipe by just slicing the cookie dough off of the roll to make individual cookies. Bake the cookies as directed on the package, then when they are cool, spread them with the cream cheese and sugar mixture then top with fruit and chocolate chips. They are so easy to make and it will bring 'em to their knees!

Bellisimo!

I bet you'd never find this in a pizzeria in Italy.

Buono da mangiare!