Summer is officially here… or it at least feels like it in our house because my girls are out of school for the summer!! This brings with it a lot of excitement for memories we will form, and also a little bit of nervousness as they are in less camps this year, so we will just be taking things one day at a time. I am going to constantly be trying to remind myself to savor the moment. :)

This recipe for easy fruit pizza cookies seems like the perfect one for summer and all the summer holidays (memorial day, fourth of july, labor day). Or also just because. It’s a fun one to make any time of the year.

Fruit pizza is my childhood favorite. The fresh fruit over a cream cheese frosting and a soft cookie crust suddenly becomes the perfect combination when you bite into it. And it’s relatively easy and fun to make! Especially with kids.

And in case anyone wants a timeline of what baking with small children looks like in my house, here you go…

It usually starts about a week out when I come up with an idea to bake something and start talking about it with my kids and get them excited to bake it. Then, I realize I don’t have a lot of the ingredients, so we have to wait until we get the ingredients at the store. Then, we have to wait until a day when we are all home, which is usually about a week or so after the initial idea. That is when finally comes the day we bake the item we have just talked about for a week. It’s well worth the wait! Hah!

BAKING SHORT CUTS : This fruit pizza recipe is with a homemade sugar cookie, but you could also just use a store-bought sugar cookie dough!!! I have done that too and it’s great. Both are delicious and I am all about easy. And instead of homemade frosting, you can also just use store-bought cream cheese frosting.

You can make this on a pizza pan as one big pizza, or as individual cookies pictured here!

Easy Fruit Pizza Cookies

Homemade Sugar Cookie Base

• 2 3/4 cups flour

• 1 tsp. baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. baking powder

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter

• 1 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

• 4 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1. Whisk the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until combined. Add in the egg and vanilla and milk. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix until combine.

3. To make a pizza: press on a pizza pan sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with parchment paper and bake at 375 for about 15-18 minutes (keep checking on it after 15 minutes), and remove when the edges are golden brown and the middle appears done. You may have some dough left over, so just make some cookies with it. To make cookies: Scoop tablespoon sized dough balls on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for about 9-10 minutes or until edges are just turning golden slightly.

4. Take out and let cool before topping with the frosting and fresh fruit, recipe below!...

Cream Cheese Frosting

• 8 oz block-style cream cheese, softened (I use full-fat)

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• 1 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Fresh fruit to decorate (I use strawberries, sliced, and blueberries)

Instructions:

1. Beat the cream cheese frosting ingredients in a mixer until light and fluffy and all creamed together.

2. Spread on the cooled pizza or individual cookies.

3. Decorate with fresh fruit (I used sliced strawberries and blueberries)