This winter fruit pizza is a soft, chewy sugar cookie crust spread with sweet strawberry cream cheese and piled with kiwi, pears, mandarins, bananas and grapes. It's bright, colorful and super simple, so it's my go-to when I want a fresh dessert in the middle of cookie season!
Fruit pizza always takes me back to my childhood and summertime. As a kid it felt extra awesome to get soft, amazing sugar cookie with my fruit. Honestly, it still does! The problem is winter. It's a sad time for fruit in my neck of the woods, so I wanted a sugar cookie fruit pizza that's just as good as the berry-filled summer version, using produce I can actually find in season.
The result is a fruit pizza with sugar cookie crust that looks festive enough for the holiday dessert table. Add a handful of pomegranate seeds and it turns into a red and green Christmas fruit pizza that everyone will want a slice of.
Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Butter. One stick of softened butter gives the crust its rich, classic sugar cookie flavor. Salted or unsalted both work. If you use salted, you can skip the extra pinch of salt.
- Cornstarch. This is a must! A little cornstarch keeps the cookie crust from spreading too much and keeps the middle soft and pillowy.
- Vanilla extract. Use a good pure vanilla extract for the best flavor. Almond extract is a fun swap if you love that bakery-cookie taste (use just ½ teaspoon).
- Strawberry cream cheese. Keep it simple and use a container of the pre-packaged strawberry cream cheese spread. I love it because I don't have to dirty another bowl, and the pretty pink color makes the lighter fruit really pop. Plain or honey nut cream cheese works too.
- Winter fruit. I use red and green pears, kiwi, mandarin oranges, bananas and red grapes. Citrus is always best during the winter! Fresh clementines or a can of drained mandarin oranges both work great here.
Helpful Tips
Cream the butter and sugar well. Beat them together for a good 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. That's what gives the crust its soft texture. I use a hand mixer, but a stand mixer with the paddle attachment works just as well.
Chill the dough. Thirty minutes in the fridge is all it needs, and it makes the dough so much easier to press out. If you want to get ahead, cover the bowl and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.
Leave room for spreading. Don't spread the dough all the way to the edge of your 12-inch pizza pan. Press it into a circle about 8 inches across with your fingertips and leave about a 2-inch border, so it doesn't come spilling over the sides as it bakes. No rolling pin required! Bake it until the edges are just lightly golden, so they're a little chewy and the middle stays soft.
Cool it completely. Let the crust cool all the way before you add the cream cheese, or it will melt and slide around. If you're more organized than me, pop it in the fridge to cool faster. If you're like me, you can't possibly fit another thing in your refrigerator anyway!
Keep the fruit fresh. Bananas and pears turn brown once they're cut. Toss them with a squeeze of lemon juice, or slice them and add them right before serving. An offset spatula makes spreading the cream cheese quick and even.
Variations
- Christmas fruit pizza. Use mostly kiwi, green grapes and pomegranate seeds for a red and green look. Arrange the kiwi slices in a wreath around the edge for a fun holiday touch.
- Chocolate lovers. Swap the strawberry spread for a chocolate cream cheese topping, like this chocolate fruit pizza.
- Summer berries. Once berry season rolls around, top it with strawberries, blueberries and raspberries instead.
- Mini fruit pizzas. Scoop the dough into balls, flatten them on a baking sheet and bake for about 9 to 11 minutes. These are great for a party platter!
- Shortcut crust. Short on time? A tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough pressed into the pan works in a pinch.
Serving Ideas
Slice it into wedges like a real pizza and serve it as a light holiday dessert or an afternoon treat. I'm one of those people who feels a little less guilty about treats like this because I'm still getting a full serving of fruit!
For a party, set it next to a hot chocolate charcuterie board or a festive Santa hat buttercream board. It's also lovely at a brunch next to a big fruit salad with honey-yogurt dip and a pot of coffee.
Storing & Freezing
Cover leftovers and keep them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. The crust slowly softens under the cream cheese, so it's best on the day you make it. Bananas won't keep their color, which is another reason to add them right before serving.
To make ahead, bake the crust up to 1 day early and keep it well wrapped at room temperature. You can also freeze the plain baked crust for up to 2 months. Thaw it on the counter, then add the cream cheese and fruit. The assembled fruit pizza doesn't freeze well, since the fruit gets mushy.
More Christmas Desserts
If you loved this recipe, here are a few more holiday treats you might enjoy:
- Peppermint Bark Fudge
- Easy Eggnog Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Easy Candy Cane Fudge
- Spice Cookies with Powdered Sugar
Recipe
Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizza
Equipment
- hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter (½ cup), softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour spooned and leveled
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 1 7.5 ounce container strawberry cream cheese softened (about 210 g)
- 2 red pears cored and cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 green pears cored and cut into bite-size pieces
- 2 bananas sliced
- 3 kiwis peeled and sliced
- 2 mandarin oranges or clementines, peeled and separated into segments (or 1 can, 11 ounces, drained)
- ½ cup grapes red, halved if large
Instructions
For the crust:
- In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and sugar with a hand mixer (or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment) on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat on low speed until combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cornstarch. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat for about 1 minute, just until a soft dough forms.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes, or up to 1 day.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Butter a 12-inch pizza pan or spray it well with nonstick cooking spray. Press the chilled dough onto the pan with your fingertips in an even circle about 8 inches across, leaving about a 2-inch border, since the dough spreads as it bakes.
- Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until the edges are just lightly golden. Let the crust cool completely on the pan, about 30 minutes (or pop it in the fridge to speed things up).
For the topping:
- Spread the strawberry cream cheese evenly over the cooled crust with an offset spatula, leaving a thin edge of cookie showing.
- Slice the bananas and kiwis, cut the pears into bite-size pieces, halve any large grapes and separate the mandarins into segments. Arrange the fruit over the cream cheese, then slice into 8 wedges and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition details are an estimate, per serving.
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