^[1]

^[2]Every year, we get together with family to celebrate all the summer family birthdays. Most years, each person has already had a birthday cake to celebrate on their special day. So, when we finally all get together with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents, we often do something other than birthday cake for the dessert. Last year, we had chocolate fondue for dessert. This year, I decided to make a dessert pizza with fresh fruit.

It was a busy weekend for us, and I actually decided last minute what I was making, so I took a short cut and used Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix ^[3] for the crust. (FYI: The mix can be made egg-free, dairy-free, and peanut-free.) I combined two mixes to make a 16″ pizza crust. Then, I made a simple cream cheese spread to cover the huge sugar cookie crust, and topped it with slices of fresh fruit. It’s a simple and easy dessert, but very satisfying and pretty. You can use whatever fruit you have available. Make a design with the fruit, like I did, or simply pile it all on.

Gluten-Free Fruit Pizza Dessert

Ingredients:

Sugar Cookie Dough (2 Cherrybrook Kitchen mixes, 1 Cup margarine, 1/2 Cup rice milk, 5 tsp vanilla)
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 Cup powdered sugar, sifted
Variety of fruit, sliced (I used 3 kiwis, a pint of strawberries and a handful of blueberries.)

Directions:

1. ^[4]Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Make the sugar cookie crust. Follow the recipe as usual for the sugar cookie dough. (I combined two mixes with 1 Cup melted butter, 1/2 Cup almond milk, and 5 tsp vanilla.)
3. Place the dough on a large sheet of Parchment Paper ^[5] and top with a large sheet of plastic wrap. Then roll, or press, out the dough to a 16″ round. Remove the plastic wrap and slide the parchment paper with dough onto a Pizza Pan ^[6] or cookie sheet.
4. Place the large cookie dough into the oven, and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until it starts to brown around the edges.
5. Remove the pizza crust from the oven and let it cool completely on a wire rack. The parchment paper will make it easy to slide the crust off the cookie sheet and onto the wire rack.
6. Mix up the cream cheese spread by thoroughly mixing together the cream cheese and powdered sugar.
7. Once the crust is completely cooled, spread the cream cheese/sugar mixture evenly over the top of the crust.
8. Now add the sliced fruit to the pizza. If you are going to make a fun design, I suggest you start in the middle and work your way out to the edges.
9. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until time to serve.

Additional Notes:

• ^[7]We cut our pizza into 16 large servings.
• Each Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix ^[3] makes about 20 cookies.
• Feel free to use any variety of fruit: berries, peaches, nectarines, mango, cherries, etc. You can also use bananas, but remember they will brown so add them right before you serve it.
• Want more fruit? Cut thick slices, overlap the fruit, or just pile it all on. Get creative and have fun!
• You can also use canned fruit, but be sure to drain any sauce or liquid completely from it, so it doesn’t make the pizza soggy.
• Some of our family members added a scoop of vanilla ice cream to top their pizza slice. I don’t think it needs any topping, but if it sounds good to you, you may also consider topping with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, or a simple glaze.
• You don’t have to make this as a round pizza. Use a baking sheet/jelly roll pan for the crust. Then, cut into squares for serving. Or, halve the recipe, press it into a 9×13 pan, and bake it for about 15-20 minutes.
• This is such an easy dessert to make, it would be a great project for the kids to make.

Notable Links:

• Cherrybrook Kitchen Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Mix ^[3]
• This Gluten-Free Sugar Cookie Recipe ^[8] from scratch makes about 4 dozen cookies, so you should only need to make one batch.
• Visit Gluten-Free Wednesdays ^[9] at The Gluten-Free Homemaker for more gluten-free recipes and ideas.