Everyone loves festive 4th of July Desserts and Patriotic Fruit Pizza tops the list of our favorite way to celebrate the 4th! We love to gather with family and friends, eat, play, and end the day with a few of our favorite 4th of July desserts. This Patriotic Fruit Pizza is easy to put together and requires minimal work for a big bang of a dessert!
Fruit pizza, in case you aren’t familiar, is basically a cookie crust topped with cream cheese frosting and fresh fruit. They were huge in the late 70’s early 80’s. Everyone loved a good fruit pizza back then and it was a standard wedding and baby shower dessert.
We made them for years until they slowly faded away and now it seems, you hardly ever see fruit pizza served. I love sugar cookies and frosting and fresh fruit. A few years ago, I put a fresh twist on this dessert and updated it for our 4th of July Desserts and Patriotic Fruit Pizza post!
This sugar cookie crust sets this dessert apart from others. It’s an all butter recipe, made with powdered sugar and a bit of cream of tartar to keep it light. I love to put a little bit of almond flavoring in the dough to give it a little extra flavor.
The crust is patted into either two round pizza pans, or a standard jelly roll pan (12x17x1). After the dough is distributed in the pans and patted in, I use a mini rolling pin to get the crust out to all of the edges. If you don’t have a mini rolling pin, you may use a regular rolling pin. Be careful to not over handle the dough or it will become tough. This crust is light and just like a sugar cookie!
4th of July desserts are often made to resemble the American flag, but I like to use the colors of the flag and distribute the fruit a little more evenly, so every bite is filled with strawberries (and/or raspberries) and fresh blueberries. The combination of these fresh fruits in the summer is hard to beat, especially when paired with a sugar cookie base and a bit of cream cheese frosting! I leave off the traditional glaze topping, which gives the dessert a glossy finish. I like it better without the glaze because it’s a little bit of an updated approach to this classic dessert.
If Patriotic Fruit Pizza doesn’t get you excited for the 4th, give one of our other favorite 4th of July desserts a try… Fresh Strawberry Pie, Perfect Apple Pie (with step by step tutorial), Classic Strawberry Cheesecake , Blueberry Buckle, Frozen Strawberry Dessert, Fresh Strawberry White Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream, Apple Cherry Pie for a Crowd, Bountiful Blueberry Pie, or Raspberry Pie.
If you want to make Patriotic Fruit Pizza into a tart, you’ll love this recipe for Red,White and Blueberry Tarts – same basic ingredients, different pans. Hope you have a safe and festive 4th of July!
Patriotic Fruit Pizza
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 egg
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 teaspoons soda
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
cream cheese layer:
- 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- dash of salt
- 2-3 tablespoons milk, cream or half and half
fruit layer:
- 1 lb fresh blueberries, washed and dried
- 1 1/2 lb fresh strawberries, washed with tops cut off, dried and sliced and/or raspberries
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 325 degrees and position rack in center of oven.
- Cream together butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add the almond flavoring and egg, beat until combined and smooth, about 1 minute. Scrape bottom of bowl before adding flour.
- Add the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar all at once. Mix just until flour disappears and wet and dry ingredients are combined. Scrape bottom of bowl again to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
- Using a standard jelly roll pan (12x17x1) or two 12 inch pizza pans, lightly grease the pans with cooking spray and flour the pans. Tap any extra flour out of the pans into the sink.
- Scoop the dough into the pan, and press into the pan lightly with hands. Use a small rolling pin to smooth the dough and distribute evenly.
- Bake the crust for 15-18 minutes or until crust is set and top is lightly golden. Do not over bake!
- Remove and set on rack to cool. Let cool completely. This step may be done up to two days ahead if kept covered after baked and cooled.
- Make frosting layer by beating all ingredients together. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl half way through mixing to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.
- Spread evenly on top of cooled crust.
- Decorate the top of the frosted cookie crust with fruit as desired. I layer the strawberries one way, then spread on a layer of blueberries (or blackberries) and then layer the strawberries the opposite direction. You may also decorate the top in the pattern of the flag, or make wavy stripes.
- Store the finished, decorated fruit pizza in refrigerator until ready to serve .
Notes
- Make sure the fruit is washed and dried thoroughly before decorating top of fruit pizza or the fruit will bleed onto the frosting layer.
- Do not assemble this dessert more than 6 hours before serving.
- The cookie layer and the frosting layers can be made a few days ahead and assembled on the day of serving.
- The cookie layer freezes well for up to two months. Bake, let cool completely, and then wrap tightly with Saran Wrap.
Did you make this recipe?
Be sure to leave a comment and give this recipe a rating, letting me know how you liked it. I’d love to see a photo, tag @abountifulkitchen on Instagram!
Danielle
Fruit pizza is my favorite dessert and this recipe is my favorite one! Thank you so much for sharing!
Lisa Rhodes
Such a festive dessert! Each piece has equal amounts of fruit and is perfect for a crowd! Easy to make and a crowd pleaser! This is a yearly tradition!
Marie Kirkham
This fruit pizza had the best flavor, is simple to make and is always a crowd favorite. And we love to make it for the Fourth of July every year!
Madison
Could you use vanilla extract instead of the almond? Would it still taste okay? And if it’s okay to do that, would I just add the same amount that I would for the almond?
Si Foster
Hi Madison,
Yes vanilla works well too! Same amount!
Si
Juneal
I made this for a 4th of July BBQ, it was yummy and sweet! The kiddos couldn’t get enough of it they came back for seconds and then thirds.
Lori
What if I don’t have cream of tartar? Will the dough recipe still work?
abountifulkitchen
Hi Lori,
Sorry I missed this on the 4th! In the future, you can substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder for every 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar. Hope this helps. Thanks for reading ABK,
xo
Si
Madison
If I were to do it in a cookie sheet that is 16x12x1. Do I need to alter the cooke time or the oven temperature?
abountifulkitchen
Hi Madison,
The time should be very close to the same, just watch it. You are looking for a slightly golden top of the cookie layer! Since your pan is an inch shorter than suggested, you may need a couple more minutes of baking. Let us know how it turns out!
xo
Si
Liz
How much cream of tarter? It’s in the directions but not in the ingredients list. Thanks!
abountifulkitchen
Hi Liz,
So sorry, somehow a couple of the ingredients (cream of tartar in cookie layer and milk on frosting) were integrated into the headers of the cookie and frosting! They are fixed now. Thanks for letting me know!
xo
Si
Liz Layton
Super yummy and a big hit for the 4th of July. I loved the almond extract in the crust. Also, i made it while we were all together as a family so i stuck the crust in the freezer to cool quickly and it turned out great!
Si Foster
Hi Liz, the almond extract adds so much to the flavor of the crust. I love this recipe for the 4th as well. It’s always a big hit in our family. Thanks for reading ABK!
xo,
Si
Becky Comstock
This was delicious and such a festive 4th of July dessert! I thought the cookie tasted better the day after. But not the fruit. So next time I make this I will make the cookie a day ahead, then frost and put the fruit on the next day.
Si Foster
Thanks Becky! It’s such a fun dessert, especially for the summertime. Unless I’m serving the day of making, I usually don’t put the berries on until a couple hours ahead. If the fruit isn’t dry or sits too long on the frosting, it will bleed into it.
xo,
Si
Kelsey
Made these for the 4th of July holiday with my family and it was a hit! The sugar cookie base is delicious and easy to make. I would definitely recommend using a rolling pin and add some flour around it for ease of spreading the dough into the jelly roll pan. Definitely plan to make this again!
Si Foster
Thanks for sharing, Kelsey. It’s such a festive treat for this time of year and so fun to make. Thanks for reading ABK!
xo,
Si
Krystle Mecham
This recipe is great! The flavor of the cookie crust is yummy with the almond extract and the texture turned out perfectly. The only change I made was to put less powdered sugar into the cream cheese layer – I usually put less since I like my cream cheese frostings to taste more cream cheese-y! I would also make sure to dry the fruits thoroughly – I thought I did but there was still some strawberry “sweat” as my family called it going on 😂. Definitely a must-try!
Si Foster
Thanks for sharing, Krystle. This recipe is always a favorite in our home too and it’s so easy to adapt to your liking. Thanks for reading ABK!
xo,
Si
Mallory
Hi, if you are to use a kitchen aid !user for the dough would you use the paddle attachment?
Si Foster
Hi Mallory, yes I would use the paddle attachment for the dough. Thanks for reading ABK!
xo,
Si
CARLI J HANCOCK
If I were to make the cookie sheet pan part a day ahead, how would you recommend storing it? I love the idea of assembling it the day of and wondered what you thought would be best. (I’ve only ever stored cookies in a gallon size bag or a tupperware with a closed lid so I am having a hard time coming up with how to keep the sheet pan crust fresh! Thanks!
Si Foster
Hi Carli, if you have enough space in your freezer, I would cover the cookie crust and store it there overnight. If there’s not enough room, you could cut the cookie in half. Just make sure it’s sealed when you freeze it. Then you can take it out the following morning to let it unthaw and assemble the rest of the ingredients on top. You can also make the frosting ahead and keep it in the fridge. It’s best not to frost and put the berries on more than 6 hours before you serve it. Hope this helps and thanks for reading ABK!
xo,
Si
Kelly
I love all of your recipes!!!
I noticed this one says inactive time 30 hours, 30 min. Typo????
Si Foster
Thank you for pointing that out Kelly! It should be fixed now to an inactive time of 30 minutes. Thanks for reading ABK,
xo,
Si