Fruit Pizza — a giant sugar cookie with cream cheese and fresh fruit

i. Origin & history

Fruit pizza has no known inventor; it appears to have spread through American home kitchens, community cookbooks and church potlucks from the 1970s and 1980s. Two things made it possible. One was the craze for anything shaped like pizza, which by then was one of the most popular foods in the United States. The other was refrigerated sugar-cookie dough, sold in tubes by brands such as Pillsbury, which could be sliced and pressed into a round pizza pan to make a base in minutes. Spread with sweetened cream cheese — another convenience staple of the period — and topped with fruit, it gave a dessert that looked impressive, fed a crowd and needed almost no skill.

The idea itself is old. The French tarte aux fruits lays glazed fresh fruit over a crisp pastry base and a layer of crème pâtissière, and German and Central European bakeries have long made large sheet tarts and Obstkuchen topped with fruit and a clear glaze. Fruit pizza is the American picnic version: sturdier, sweeter, easier to transport and quicker to put together.

It has stayed popular because it is so adaptable. Cooks arrange the fruit in concentric circles of colour, in the stars and stripes of the American flag for the Fourth of July, or in rainbow rings for children's parties, and it suits whatever fruit is in season. It is also widely made as individual mini fruit pizzas on single sugar cookies.

The name 'pizza' is purely about shape and presentation; there is nothing Italian about it beyond the round pan and the wedges. Its closest relatives on DessertCat are other fruit-topped bakes such as the berry crumble tart and the pear tart.

ii. Keeping the cookie crisp under wet fruit

Fruit pizza has one real enemy: moisture. Cut fruit leaks juice, and a sugar cookie is basically sugar, butter and flour — it softens quickly when it absorbs water. A well-made fruit pizza stays crisp at the edges and tender, not soggy, in the middle for several hours.

The cream cheese layer is a barrier, not just a topping. Because it is mostly fat and milk solids, it resists water. Spread thickly and evenly right to within a centimetre of the edge, it keeps fruit juices away from the cookie. This is the same idea as brushing a tart case with melted chocolate or apricot glaze before filling.

The cookie must be fully cooled before topping. Warm cookie melts the cream cheese so it soaks in rather than sitting on top, and the cookie only crisps properly as it cools and its sugars set. Baking it until just golden at the edges, rather than pale, gives it enough structure to stay crisp.

The fruit needs care too. Berries should be dried thoroughly after washing; cut fruit such as kiwi, mango and peaches should be patted dry on kitchen paper. Apples, pears and bananas brown quickly once cut, so they should be tossed in a little lemon juice. Finally, the glaze — warmed, sieved apricot jam brushed over the fruit — does three jobs: it gives the professional shine, slows browning and drying, and seals the cut surfaces so they leak less juice. It is the same finish a French pastry chef uses on a fruit tart.

iii. Ingredients

Makes 12 servings · scroll the side panel to adjust

• 115 g unsalted butter, softened
• 150 g caster sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, for the cookie
• 220 g plain flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 225 g full-fat cream cheese, softened
• 60 g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, for the cream
• 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 500 g mixed fresh fruit: strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, raspberries, mandarin, mango
• 3 tbsp apricot jam
• 1 tbsp water or lemon juice, for the glaze

The cookie is a classic sugar cookie dough; a 450 g pack of shop-bought refrigerated cookie dough works as a shortcut. Use block-style full-fat cream cheese, which spreads thickly and holds its shape; light or spreadable cheese is too wet. Lemon zest cuts the richness. Choose fruit for colour and for how well it holds up: strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, raspberries, grapes and mandarin segments are classics; mango, peaches and pineapple are good; bananas and apples brown quickly and need lemon juice. For the glaze, apricot jam is traditional because its colour is neutral; redcurrant jelly suits red fruit.

iv. Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F), or 165 °C fan. Line a 30 cm pizza pan or a large baking tray with baking paper.
2. Beat the butter and caster sugar for 2–3 minutes until pale and creamy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix on low speed until a soft dough forms.
3. Press the dough evenly into a 28–30 cm round on the paper, about 6 mm thick, with slightly thicker edges. Chill for 15 minutes so it holds its shape.
4. Bake for 14–18 minutes, until the edges are light golden and the centre looks set and dry. Cool completely on the pan, at least 1 hour.
5. Beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla and lemon zest until smooth and spreadable. Spread over the cooled cookie in an even layer, leaving a 1 cm border.
6. Wash, dry and slice the fruit. Arrange it over the cream cheese in concentric circles, starting from the outside edge and working inwards, overlapping slightly and alternating colours.
7. Warm the jam with the water or lemon juice until runny, then sieve it. Brush lightly over the fruit. Chill for 30 minutes to set the cream, then cut into wedges with a pizza wheel or large knife.

v. Tips & common mistakes

• Cool the cookie completely. Warm cookie melts the cream cheese into the base and goes soggy. Allow a full hour.
• Spread the cream cheese thickly. It is the waterproof layer that keeps the juice from the fruit out of the cookie.
• Dry the fruit well. Wet berries and juicy slices leak onto the cream and down into the base. Pat everything dry on kitchen paper.
• Glaze the fruit. A thin layer of warm apricot jam keeps fruit glossy and fresh-looking for hours and stops it drying out or browning.
• Assemble within a few hours of serving. The cookie and cream can be prepared ahead, but fruit is best added on the day.
• Treat browning fruit with lemon. Toss sliced bananas, apples or pears in lemon juice before arranging them.

vi. Variations

Mini fruit pizzas use individual sugar cookies, each topped with cream and a few pieces of fruit. A brownie fruit pizza uses a thin brownie base, good with strawberries and raspberries. A chocolate cookie base adds 30 g cocoa in place of 30 g flour. Mascarpone or whipped cream fillings are lighter but softer, and best served within an hour or two. Flag pizzas for the Fourth of July arrange blueberries in one corner with stripes of strawberries and bananas.

For more fruit and cream desserts on DessertCat, try a layered fruit parfait, a strawberry shortcake, a berry crumble tart or the Australian lamingtons for another party traybake.

vii. Serving & storage

Serve fruit pizza chilled, in wedges or squares, at barbecues, picnics, baby showers and birthday parties. It looks best on a large board, and it is easy for guests to pick up by hand.

Because of the cream cheese and fresh fruit, keep it covered in the fridge and eat it within 1 day; after that the cookie softens and the fruit weeps. To prepare ahead, bake the cookie up to 2 days in advance and store it, cooled and wrapped, at room temperature; make the cream cheese layer a day ahead and keep it chilled. Spread, top and glaze on the day. The baked, unfrosted cookie can be frozen for up to a month.

ix. More from North American

• Fruit Parfait — layered yoghurt, fruit and granola
• Strawberry Shortcake — berries, cream and biscuit
• Seven Layer Bars — coconut and chocolate magic bars
• Lime Coconut Pie — tangy Florida-style pie
• Berry Crumble Tart — fruit tart with crumb topping
• Blueberry Muffins — American breakfast muffins