Fruit Pizza

It's recipe catch up time!  This is a recipe I kind of made up this past summer.  I say "kind of" because fruit pizza is hardly a unique concept, but I did use my own recipe for the crust and the cream cheese filling.  In any case, this is a very yummy, easy, pretty, and summery dessert!  A sugar cookie spread with lemony cream cheese and topped with fresh fruit.  What's not to like?!  You can use pretty much any fruit you want on top.

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
2/3 C shortening
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t lemon extract
2 C flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 C sugar
1/2 t lemon extract
1/4 t vanilla extract

Topping:
sliced fruit of your choice (I used blueberries, kiwi, mango, papaya, and pineapple)

Preheat oven to 375 and lightly grease a 12 inch springform pan.  Cream together shortening and sugar until fluffy, then beat in eggs and extracts until smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix just until combined, being sure not to over mix.  Evenly press the dough in the bottom of a springform pan, building up the edges a bit.  Bake the crust until lightly golden, 10 to 15 minutes.  Let cool completely.  You can stick it in the refrigerator to speed things along.

When the crust has cooled, make the filling.  Beat together the filling ingredients until smooth, then spread on top of the crust.  If you're going to serve it immediately, top with the fruit and serve.  If you're going to serve it later, just cover the pan with plastic wrap (leave the sides of the pan attached to the base!) and add the fruit soon before serving.  You can add the fruit a few hours ahead of time and it will be okay, but the fruit releases some juice so it's ideal to wait if you can.

Yield: about 12 servings