Fruit Pizza

I had a craving for fruit pizza and decided to try to make one that would be nutritious and still taste good. This worked out really well - it is a fun and delicious treat.

 

 

Crust
1/2 cup butter, softened (try this)
1/2 cup unrefined whole cane sugar (or coconut sugar or maple sugar or any combination thereof)
1 pasture egg (read this!)
1 1/4 cups spelt flour
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Cream Cheese "Frosting"
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese (try this, or this or mascarpone cheese or ricotta cheese, etc.)
1/4 cup sugar (as indicated above)
1 tbsp. honey (try using raw and/ or local honey)
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Fruit
Any variety to your tastes, about 2-3 cups, sliced as needed

How To:
1. Make the Cookie Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Then add egg and mix well. Add flour, baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Mix until just combined. Press the dough into an ungreased pizza pan (12" diameter or a 9x13 baking sheet) and bake 8-10 minutes. The crust will be a dark color due to the dark color of the sugar and flour (see picture below). Set aside to cool (about 20 minutes).

2. Make the "Frosting": In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with sugar, honey, and vanilla extract until light. Spread onto cooled crust.

 



3. Add Fruit "Toppings": Arrange fruit on top and chill.

Comments: It is September and still so hot here that a fruit pizza sounded like the perfect accompaniment to dinner. I mentioned the idea to my husband and his only comment was please don't skimp on the cream cheese. So, I didn't, and this recipe actually doubles the amount of cream cheese I noticed in the typical recipe but reduces the amount of added sugar and furthermore substitutes more nutritious alternatives for the refined cane sugar traditionally used. It also switches out white flour for spelt (and you could experiment with other alternatives as well, such as Einkorn, Kamut, almond, etc.). For the fruit, we used strawberries, kiwis, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, your options are endless.

This was a really fun, light snack and we enjoyed it for breakfast the next day too. I did read in several posts when researching this recipe that it is important to ensure your fruit is very dry (after washing) before adding to the "pizza" or the crust will become soggy. I patted all mine dry and had no problem.

By the way, the "sugar" I used in this recipe was a combination of approximately equal parts coconut crystals, maple sugar, and unrefined whole cane sugar (my sources linked above).

 

Follow me on Facebook or Google Plus!

 

This post was featured on Strut Your Stuff Saturday, Snacktime Saturday, the Better Mom Mondays, Tasteful Tuesdays, Sunday Sweeties, and Countdown to 2013: Top Hits of 2012.