Fall Fruit Pizza

Ironically this recipe was born thanks to a birthday. With one more excuse to bake, I wanted to make something light (as this treat was following up an afternoon of fried food at the Texas State Fair), cute (of course), and something that I could trick myself into thinking was healthy (it has fruit!!)

So fruit pizza seemed like the perfect fit. But I didn’t want to make just any fruit pizza. To me, fruit pizzas are always associated with Fourth of July and summer potlucks, so with it being October, a fruit pizza didn’t seem to fit. In order to “make it work”, I decided to use seasonal fall fruits as my topping. I think Tim Gunn would have been proud.

For a Texas October, I found that pomegranates, grapes, grapefruit, and apples were all in season. So that decided it. Fall fruit, combined with a sugar cookie crust and cream cheese icing, equaled a happy birthday to everyone.

Before I go on, I first want to address pomegranates. It seems to me that the average person doesn’t tend to buy pomegranates on a daily basis. And if they are, they’re buying the extracted seeds cleanly compiled for you in compact containers. Try that for an alliteration. But, these compact containers can run you upwards of $15! I decided to save the $14 and attempt DIY pomegranate seeds instead. I found this video to be helpful.

How to Remove Pomegranate Seeds

My kitchen resembled a crime scene after beating the pomegranates, which was actually quite fitting with Halloween coming up. So if you decide not to clean up the kitchen that night you can say the juice is your newest Halloween decor. Beware if wearing white.

I prepared the crust and icing the night before and added on the fruit in the morning as I didn’t want the pears to brown. I’m sure with a little lemon juice though this two part process could be avoided.

Fall Fruit Pizza

1/2 grapefruit

Handful of grapes, sliced in half

2 pears

Pomegranate seeds for sprinkling

1 bag sugar cookie mix (or pre-made dough)

1 package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Agave for drizzling

*Keep in mind you can use as little or as much of these fruits as possible. This is just what I ended up using with the arrangement I did.

Directions

• Make sugar cookie dough according to package. Spray a pizza pan and evenly spread cookie dough to form crust.

• Bake cookie dough for 12-14 minutes at 375 degrees.

• Beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Once the dough has cooled completely, spread icing onto crust.

• Chop fruit and arrange in whatever pattern you choose.

• Drizzle with agave if you want to make your pizza extra classy. Pinky out while eating.

• Refrigerate preferably 2 hours before serving.

Eat and repeat!