I made this red, white, and blue dessert "pizza" the other day. It's a giant homemade sugar cookie, dressed to the nines with lemony cream cheese frosting and colorful fruit. It tastes like heaven...and looks like the Fourth of July!
Here's the easy recipe:
To start, make a giant sugar cookie: In a bright green bowl, whisk together 2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Next, in the bowl of your standing mixer, beat 1 stick softened butter and 1 cup granulated sugar until light and fluffy.
No standing mixer in your batterie de cuisine?
Use a medium-size bowl and handheld electric beaters.
Then beat in 1 large egg...
And 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.
At "low" speed, gradually add the flour mixture...
And beat until thoroughly incorporated.
Scoop the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap...
And then form it into a ball, and flatten it into a disk. Wrap the disk, and pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes or for up to 3 days. (If you're not in a hurry, you can freeze the dough for up to 3 months.)
Now fetch your French rolling pin, and roll the dough into a 10- or 11-inch circle.
Transfer the cookie to a rimless, parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill for 15 minutes or so, while you preheat the oven to 350°F.
Bake until the cookie starts to brown at the edges -- about 25 minutes. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire cooling rack.
It's frosting time! Drop 1 (8-ounce) block of softened cream cheese and a generous cup of confectioners' sugar into a medium bowl.
Add the juice of half a lemon. (If you have a lemon-squeezing gadget, be sure to place the fruit cut-side-down. You'll get more juice that way.)
Violently beat the cream cheese mixture with a wooden spoon or stout wire whisk until you achieve something that looks like...frosting.
Scoop the frosting onto the center of the cookie...
And spread it out with an off-set spatula, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around.
And now the fun begins!
The fruit: You can arrange the fruit as capriciously or as artistically as you wish. To be somewhat artistic, I placed a small handful of blueberries in the center of my cookie...
And surrounded them with strawberry slices.
Then I added a double row of blueberries...
And an edge of strawberries, with pointed tips facing out.
Did I leave well enough alone at this point?
I most certainly did not.
Instead, I sliced up a banana...
And dropped the pieces in a bowl of orange juice to keep them from browning too quickly.
Then I placed the banana slices between the strawberry-edge and the double row of blueberries. I also added more blueberries, which, as you can see, totally obliterated my initial design.
In other words, I created a monster. A big, colorful, screamingly-delicious monster that will serve 8 people.
True Confession: Brenda Johnson, my ever lovin' taste-tester, received one slice of this tooty-fruity goodness. The rest of the pizza was devoured by...someone else.
(Burp.)
Think you'll give this fruit pizza a try? You can let me know by leaving a comment.
Meanwhile, here's a printer friendly, copy-and-paste version of the above:
A Fabulous Fruit Pizza
Kevin Lee Jacobs (www.kevinleejacobs.com)
Ingredients for about 8 servings
For the cookie crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the cream cheese frosting:
1 8-ounce block cream cheese, at room temperature
1 generous cup confectioners' sugar
The juice of half a lemon
For the fruit topping (feel free to use the fruit of your choice)
Strawberries -- about 12, sliced
Blueberries - 1 pound or slightly less
1 banana, sliced and dipped in orange juice or lemon juice (to retard browning)
Making the sugar cookie dough -- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a standing mixer (or in a medium bowl if you are using handheld electric beaters), beat the butter and sugar at "medium" speed until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla. At "low" speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture. Form the dough into a ball, flatten it into a disk, and tightly wrap in plastic. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes, or for up to 3 days.
Forming and baking the cookie -- Center the oven rack, and preheat the oven to 350°F. On a lightly-floured surface, roll the dough into a 10- or 11-inch-diameter circle. Transfer the pastry to a rimless, parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until the edges of the cookie begin to color -- 25-30 minutes. Place the baking sheet on a wire rack, and let the cookie cool to room temperature.
Making the cream cheese frosting -- Put the cream cheese, confectioners' sugar, and lemon juice in a medium bowl. Beat with a stout spoon or wire whisk until thick and smooth. If the frosting seems too thin, just add more confectioners' sugar.
Assembling the pizza -- Scoop the frosting onto the center of the cookie, and spread it out with an offset spatula, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Arrange the fruit in some artistic (or capricious!) fashion.
If you are making the pizza ahead of time, leave it on the baking sheet, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for up to 1 day.
To serve, slide the tart onto a wooden board. Slice with a sharp knife or pastry wheel.
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