Recipe: Fruit Pizza {#TheCakePlateProject}

A delicious, slightly healthy, mostly awesome twist on dessert.

Every time we would go visit my grandmother in Texas, she would have a Fruit Pizza waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Although my grandmother wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, her Fruit Pizza (and the act of her making it for my sister and I) was one of my fondest memories of her, and something I’ve continued to share with my kids over the years.

And as I told my kids this weekend when we were talking about it, considering the fact that my grandmother basically subsisted on rice cakes and boiled chicken for herself, this Fruit Pizza was the ultimate indulgence.

When I volunteered to make dessert to bring to my parents’ house for Easter, I searched Pinterest and flagged a bunch of the usual suspects.

Cute cupcakes that look like bird’s nests.

Easter bunny cookies.

Easter bunny cakes.

You know the drill.

But then, for some reason, Fruit Pizza popped into my head.

Perfect.

Slightly sweet, kind of sort of healthy, and a solid food memory.

Over the years that I’ve been making it for my kids, I have made many iterations (Pillsbury has an awesome rainbow version).

When my grandmother made it, she used sugar cookie dough from Pillsbury, spread it with plain cream cheese, then a layer of drained, crushed pineapple, and then the assorted fruit.

When I’ve made it that way, I am usually obsessive about draining the pineapple because it makes for a soggy crusty in the days that follow, although my sister says that’s the best part.

The first attempt this weekend, I used Pillsbury sugar cookie dough, as always, but I got distracted with a phone call and life and cooked it for a minute or two too long … and since it hardens even more after it comes out of the oven, that pretty much rendered it inedible.

Determined to not go back to the store, I made a homemade version of the cookie dough, using a recipe I found online, and, well, I managed to let it go about a minute too long on the second round and I almost trashed it, but I thought better of it.

I was hoping that once the “frosting” layer and fruit got on, it would soften it a bit.

And thankfully, it did. Just a smidge.

I have a huge cake plate that I don’t use that often because of its enormity, but it actually ended up being the exact width of the pizza, so it was perfect for this month’s entry for #TheCakePlateProject (you can see last month’s deliciousness right here). #TheCakePlateProject is a little monthly project I came up with, designed to get me AND you to think about using our cake plates more.

Fruit Pizza has been around forever and is such a simple and fun dessert to make, and perfect for Spring-time weather, light Easter desserts, or just because. Go get yourself some.

*You can find the recipe I used for the pizza base and *frosting* right here on Sally’s Baking Addiction.