Fruit pizza

On a nice summer night, my perfect meal would be some sort of grilled meat, grilled veggies, and a yummy fruit dessert.  This past weekend the weather was sunny and warm so Marc and I decided to take advantage of it and fire up his grill for the first time this year.  We kept things simple with grilled chicken and green beans, and (being the nice girlfriend that I am) I let Marc decide what I would make for desserts.  I was giving him some ideas by naming off bookmarked desserts on my computer, and when I came across fruit pizza, he was dead set on it.  
Apparently, Marc has a "thing" for fruit pizza.  He claims that when he was younger he would beg his mom to make it and she always said 'no'.  Now, I know Marc's mom and I have a hard time believing she absolutely refused to make it.  I mean, last week she made 200 cupcakes for her piano students' recital, I don't think fruit pizza would have been too much of a challenge for her.  Knowing Marc, he probably asked her to make it at 8:00 on a weeknight, when his sweet tooth started to kick in and now, 20 years later, he will never let his mom live it down that she said no.  
While this isn't a very difficult dessert to make, it isn't a spur-of-the-moment dessert to make.  It definitely takes some planning and prep work of cutting up the fruit.  Besides cutting the fruit, the actual crust came together really quickly and the frosting is a breeze to whip up.  This is definitely a dessert for a crowd, as the fruit doesn't keep well very long, and would be perfect for a summer BBQ!


Fruit Pizza
from allrecipes.com


Sugar cookie crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt


Directions:  


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Cream together the butter and sugar until creamy.  Add the egg and beat until combined.  In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients, then add to butter mixture.  Mix until combined.  Refrigerate at least one hour, or until it is easy to work with.


Roll out the dough onto a greased pizza pan or greased baking sheet so it is 1/4" to 1/2" thick.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden.  Cool completely before frosting.


Cream cheese frosting
1 (8oz) package cream cheese (I used low fat)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one lemon
juice of half a lemon


Beat all ingredients until light and creamy.  Spread onto cooled cookie crust.  Decorate with your choice of fruit.


Fruit (pick whatever you want)
Strawberries
Mandarin Oranges
Bananas
Kiwi
Blueberries
Blackberries
Pineapple
Peaches
Mango
Raspberries