Fruit Pizza Like Never Before

For those of you not blessed enough to be here for our Father's Day/Baby Girl's 3rd Birthday Bash, you seriously missed out on some good treats.

If you think I'm tooting my own horn too loudly, don't.  I copied the recipe from this blog, almost to a T.  With just a tiny (but I think excellently yummy) tweak.

And lest you think I'm overdoing it with the praise for this recipe, Blake has requested the same fresh peach pie for his birthday dessert every single year since I began dating it (and even before that, but it was his mom who made it back then).  He has now requested that I switch it up and make this instead.  That is huge, friends.

In case you're too lazy to click the link, here is the recipe:

Sugar Cookie Crust*

1/2 C unsalted butter
3/4 C sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch

Cream butter for one minute in a large bowl or stand mixer, then add sugar on medium speed and beat until fluffy and light in color.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Scrape sides as needed.

In separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 different parts.  Once completely combined, cover the dough tightly and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes (mine wasn't very firm by this time, so I left it for about 1 hour) and up to one day.  Without chilling, the dough may spread over the sides of the pan in the oven.

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 12-inch pizza pan, or line a baking stone with parchment paper.  Remove chilled dough and press onto the pan in an even flat circle.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly browned.  Over-baking will make a hard crust.  Allow crust to cool completely before decorating.

*You might be thinking you already have a yummy sugar cookie recipe.  You probably do.  But, it's not like this one.  The cornstarch makes it deliciously chewy and perfectly suited as a crust.  YOU MUST use this cookie recipe when you make this fruit pizza!!!!

Topping

8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/4 C. unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 C. powdered sugar
1-2 T milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Assorted fruit

In a medium bowl, using a handheld mixer or a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Add the powdered sugar and 1 T milk.  Beat for 2 minutes.  Add the vanilla and 1 more T milk, if needed.  Here's where I got crazy--I added in 4-5 drops of Wild Orange essential oil.  It was really subtle, but amazing.  Beat for 1 minute.
Spread over the cooled sugar cookie crust and decorate with fruit.

It's really helpful to have your sister there to help with the fruit decorating.  She has excellent ideas on how to make it beautiful, is fun to talk to, and really reduces the time when you're making three of these at once.