Another one of my favorite summertime desserts is a large, pizza-size, baked sugar cookie covered with a layer of sweet cream cheese and topped with a strawberry glaze mixed with sliced strawberries and kiwi. Herein lies my strawberry kiwi sugar cookie pizza. Fruit with cookies and cream… yes, please!
My Dessert Pizza Memories
Fruit pizzas have been around for years. They are like fruit pies usually with a crust and topped with cream and fruit. I always thought they were called pizza because the crust is typically baked flat in a pizza pan, and they were (are) commonly served in American pizza parlors. I recall going to those all-you-can-eat pizza buffet restaurants as a kid itching to finish the savory pizza so I could have the chocolate dessert pizza. At home, my mom used to make them with a pie crust (baked in a round pizza pan) and topped with a sweetened whipped cream followed by a layer of fresh fruit (with strawberries being the fav.).
My Favorite Fruit Pizza
Once I started baking, I really wanted to change that traditional pie crust to a sugar cookie. I basically modified my favorite sugar cookie recipe that has cream cheese to create a sturdy crust minus the cream cheese. For the sweetened cream, I’ve always loved the mix of cream cheese, powdered sugar, and whipped topping, so that became my cream layer. There is nothing wrong with fresh fruit to top a fruit pizza, but sometimes the fruit is overly ripened, under ripened, or too tart. So, to combat any fruit discrepancies, I opted for a sweetened glaze like my Strawberry Shortcake Trifle glaze with fresh strawberries and kiwi. Voilà! Thus, we have the fruit pizza I like best resulting in a fantastic fruity and sweet summer dessert.
Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Pizza Ingredients
The sugar cookie pizza crust includes butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, almond extract, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. For the sweet cream cheese filling, we have cream cheese, thawed whipped topping, and powdered sugar. The strawberry kiwi glaze topping consists of strawberry gelatin (Jell-O), cornstarch, strawberries, kiwi, and water.
Make the Sugar Cookie Dough
Whip Wet Ingredients
Begin by making the sugar cookie crust. In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, use the paddle attachment or electric mixer and whip 84 grams (6 tablespoons) of softened butter until smooth. Add 100 grams ( ½ cup) of granulated sugar and whip again until light and creamy. Add 1 large egg, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract, and ¼ teaspoon of almond extract. Whip again until smooth and creamy.
Combine Dry Ingredients
Combine the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, stir together 156 grams (1¼ cups) of all-purpose flour (fluffed, scooped, and leveled off if using measuring cup). Add ½ teaspoon (2 grams) of baking powder and ¼ teaspoon (1.5 grams) salt. Stir until the ingredients are mixed well.
Add Dry to Wet & Cool to Firm
In stages, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Stir in between additions just until the flour and butter mixtures are combined.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate the cookie dough for an hour to help the dough firm so it’s easier to spread in the pan. You can also make the cookie dough the day before you want to bake it; just keep it stored in the fridge.
Preheat Oven & Prepare Pan (Butter, Paper, & Butter)
Preheat the oven to 350˚F (177˚C). Prepare a 12-inch round pizza pan (or large 9×13 casserole dish). If you intend to transfer the cookie to a serving dish that has high sides for adding toppings, cut a sheet of parchment paper to the size of the pan. Butter the pan and place the paper down so that it sticks and rub your fingers along the paper to smooth it out. Butter the top of the paper. If the cookie will be topped in the same pan it is baked in, just butter the pan without the parchment paper. Regardless, ensure that you use a pan with high sides to hold layers- baked cookie, layer of cream, and “runny” layer of fruit and glaze.
Roll or Press Out Cookie Dough & Bake
On a floured surface mixed with a little granulated sugar, use a rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough. If your cookie dough is very firm from being in the fridge several hours to overnight, you’ll need roll the dough to the diameter or length of the pan. If your dough is a little soft, you’ll will likely only need to roll it out half of the size of the pan and then press out the dough to the edges of the pan using your fingers or small rolling pin. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool completely in pan.
TIP: Whenever I roll out cookie dough, I flour and sugar the work surface and rolling pin. The flour and granulated sugar combination keeps the dough from drying out, adds a little friction to the work surface keeping the dough from sticking, and adds a little caramelization, crunch, and sweetness to the cookie surface.
Combine the Sweet Cream Cheese Ingredients
While the cookie cools, make the sweet cream cheese filling. In a large bowl, 1 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese. Use an electric mixer to whip until smooth. Add 90 g (¾ cup) powdered sugar and whip again until well combined. Fold in 9 oz of thawed whipped topping until combined. Just use your favorite like Cool Whip or my preference SO Coco Whip. Store the cream mixture covered in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the pizza.
TIP: Folding instead of stirring whipped topping prevents it from deflating. To fold, cut a spatula through the center of the cream mixture and fold it over. Make a figure 8 with spatula around the outside of the bowl and cut through the center again and fold over. Continue the same steps until the whipped topping is mixed in smoothly.
Make the Fruit Glaze
Slice the Strawberries & Kiwi
To make the strawberry kiwi glaze, first slice the strawberries and kiwi (skin removed). I prefer slices over chunks as they are pretty sitting on top of the pizza in the glaze. Once sliced, place them in a bowl and set them aside.
TIP: I find using a potato peeler to remove the kiwi skins easy and less wasteful.
Cook the Strawberry Glaze
In a large saucepan, whisk together 100 grams (½ cup) of granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon (1.5 grams) of salt, 32 grams (¼ cup) cornstarch, and 85 grams (3 ounces or 1 small box) of strawberry gelatin. Whisk in 8 ounces (1 cup) of water or strawberry juice.
Heat the saucepan on medium-high heat. You’ll notice the strawberry gelatin appears cloudy from the cornstarch. As the mixture heats and begins to boil, the white cornstarch will blend in with the gelatin color and become the color of the gelatin. Then, the mixture will thicken after a couple of more minutes. Whisk frequently until the mixture thickens taking about 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in ½ teaspoon of almond extract. At this point, go ahead and stir in the sliced strawberries and kiwi. Set the entire mixture aside at room temperature to cool.
TIP: Adding the fruit while the gelatin mixture is warm helps to sweeten the fruit and soften the kiwis. The fruit also aids in cooling down the gelatin.
Assemble Pizza
Transfer Cookie (If Needed)
Now that everything has cooled to room temperature, it’s time to assemble the dessert pizza. If you intend to transfer the cookie to a different plate or platter, carefully flip the cookie out of the pan and remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cookie. Place the cookie back in the new or larger pan with taller sides to hold the layers.
TIP: Remember that if your baking pan (cookie sheet, pizza pan, or casserole dish) has high enough sides to hold several inches of toppings, you do NOT need to transfer the cookie to another dish.
Spread on Sweet Cream Cheese Filling & Fruit Topping
Spread the cream filling evenly over the cookie top. If you have tall edges, smooth the cream to the edge of the dish to create a barrier, so the strawberry glaze will not ooze down along the cookie edges. Spoon the strawberry kiwi glaze over the cream filling ensuring the strawberries and kiwi are dispersed. Since the glaze is runny at this point, focus on fruit placement letting the glaze simply flow where it wants. It will set up in the fridge when it cools.
Chill, Slice, & Serve
It’s best to allow the pizza to set up in the fridge for a couple of hours to overnight. This chilling time allows the cream to chill and the fruit glaze to set. Then, cut the pizza in slices like you would a pizza or pie. Lift the slices using a pie server, serve, and enjoy!
Close-ups of Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Pizza
Check out the three distinctive dessert layers. Notice the thickness of the cookie, cream, and glaze. They are all pretty equal in thickness. The strawberry gelatin adds a pop of color along with the green in the kiwi with black seeds.
Storing Dessert Pizza
Cut only the slices you want to eat, cover, and store the remaining pizza in the fridge for up to a week. Hopefully, by then it will be gone. If you think you’ll have pizza longer than that, share with your neighbor. 😉 They might become your best friend for life. HA!
No Time? No Worries! Consider this MUCH Quicker Option
Use store-bought cookie dough in place of making your own. Use this recipe’s cream filling since it’s easy. Instead of making the strawberry glaze, simply slice your favorite fruit and layer it on top of the cream layer. Then, you can eat it immediately without any glaze to set up in the fridge. EASY! DONE and MUCH less work!
Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Pizza Final Thoughts
This strawberry kiwi sugar cookie pizza is a great way to use up those summer strawberries. The glaze creates a visually appealing topping and works with any ripeness of fruit, tart or sweet. If you don’t have access to fresh, why not frozen? Simply thaw the frozen fruit and slice or cut into pieces. You can also leave out the kiwi and make a strawberry pizza by doubling the strawberries. In addition, if you are short on time, use store-bought cookie dough and instead of making a glaze, just layer sliced fruit of any kind over the cream, no need for the sweet strawberry glaze. If you’ve never had fruit pizza with a sugar cookie crust, you should totally give it a whirl.
Baker’s Perspective
This is a fun dessert to make. The best part is as the baker, you can lick the spoons, beaters, and bowls of each layer. Ok, so maybe you shouldn’t consume the raw sugar cookie dough since eating raw flour and eggs is not recommended (but that rarely stops me).
This recipe takes a bit of time; however, you can break up the steps by making the dough and cream filling the day before. Then, bake the cookie and make the strawberry topping the day you want to eat. The only downside is that you really need to give the assembled pizza a couple of hours to set up in the fridge prior to eating it. So, for ease, you could make the dough and cream on day 1. On day 2, bake the cookie, make the fruit glaze, and assemble the pizza. Day 3 would be the day to serve your family and guests without any work needed that day.
The recipe isn’t difficult, it just requires several steps and time for baking, cooking, and chilling. This recipe makes a large pizza and with the hearty toppings, a 12-inch “pizza” goes a long way unlike a traditional 12-inch savory pizza. Thus, you can easily cut 12-14 slices to serve more people.😊
Taster’s Perspective
We love the sweet cookie base with the toned-down sweet cream filling. The addition of whipped topping mellows out and fluffs up the traditional “cream cheese” flavor and texture, so the filling doesn’t taste like cream cheese, just a sweet cream. The strawberry glaze adds color, flavor, and depth to the overall fruit topping. The glaze slightly oozes over the cream when the pizza is cut enhancing the texture of the cookie and cream.
We enjoy this dessert during strawberry season. I find strawberries and kiwi go very well together since strawberries are usually pretty sweet and kiwis can be a little tart. The glaze balances out any inconsistencies in the ripeness and tartness of the fruit. This dessert pizza makes a fun, fresh, and tasty snack or dessert to serve guests. It’s a household fav in my house this time of year.
Check out my YouTube video on all the steps in making this fruit pizza. “Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Dessert Pizza: A Must Try Sensational Sweet Summer Dessert”.
Strawberry Kiwi Sugar Cookie Dessert Pizza
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Crust:
- 84 g (6 tbsp) butter softened
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg 50-60 g
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp almond extract
- 156 g (1¼ cups) all-purpose flour fluffed, scooped, and leveled off if using a measuring cup
- ½ tsp (2 g) baking powder
- ½ tsp (3 g) salt
Sweet Cream Cheese Filling:
- 8 oz (1 pkg) cream cheese softened
- 90 g (¾ cup) powdered sugar
- 9 oz thawed whipped topping from frozen (like Cool Whip or SO Coco Whip)
Strawberry Kiwi Glaze:
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp (1.5 g) salt
- 32 g (¼ cup) cornstarch
- 85 g (3 oz or 1 small box) strawberry gelatin like Jell-O
- 8 oz (1 cup) water or strawberry juice
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 2 cups (1 pound or 1 pint) strawberries sliced
- 2 cups 5 kiwi peeled and sliced
Instructions
Sugar Cookie Crust:
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, whip butter until smooth. Add sugar and whip again until light and creamy. Add egg and extracts whipping again until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In stages, add flour mixture (~¼ cup or so at a time) to butter mixture stirring between additions until all combined.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350˚F (177˚C). Prepare a 12-inch round pizza pan (or large 9×13 casserole dish). If you intend to transfer the cookie to another dish with high sides to hold the toppings, cut a sheet of parchment paper to the size of the pan. Butter the pan and place the paper down so that it sticks and rub your fingers along the paper to smooth it out. Butter the top of the paper. If the cookie will be topped in the same pan it is baked in, just butter the pan without parchment paper.
- On a floured surface, mixed with a little granulated sugar, use a rolling pin to roll out the cookie dough. If your cookie dough is very firm from being in the fridge several hours to overnight, you'll need roll the dough to the diameter or length of the pan. If your dough is a little soft, you'll will likely only need to roll it out half of the size of the pan and then press out the dough to the edges of the pan using your fingers or small rolling pin.TIP: Whenever I roll out cookie dough, I flour and sugar the work surface and rolling pin. The flour and granulated sugar combination keeps the dough from drying out, adds a little friction to the work surface keeping the dough from sticking, and adds a little caramelization, crunch, and sweetness to the cookie surface.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and cool completely in pan.
Sweet Cream Cheese Filling:
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to whip cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and whip again until well combined. Fold in whipped topping until combined. Store the filling covered in the fridge until ready to assemble the pizza.TIP: Folding instead of stirring whipped topping prevents it from deflating. To fold, cut a spatula through the center of the cream mixture and fold it over. Make a figure 8 with spatula around the outside of the bowl and cut through the center again and fold over. Continue the same steps until the whipped topping is
Strawberry Kiwi Glaze:
- Slice the strawberries and kiwi (skin removed). Slices instead of chunks are pretty sitting on top of the pizza in the glaze. Once sliced, place the fruit in a bowl and set aside.TIP: I find using a potato peeler to remove the kiwi skins easy and less wasteful.
- In a large saucepan, whisk together sugar, salt, cornstarch, and gelatin. Whisk in water (or strawberry juice).
- Heat saucepan on medium-high heat. Whisk frequently until the mixture thickens taking about 10 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in almond extract. Stir in strawberries and kiwi and set aside at room temperature to cool.TIPS: As the mixture heats and begins to boil, the white cornstarch will blend in with the gelatin color and become clear. Then, the mixture will thicken after a couple of more minutes. Adding the fruit while the gelatin mixture is warm helps to sweeten the fruit and soften the kiwis. The fruit also aids in cooling down the gelatin.
Pizza Assembly:
- IF transferring the sugar cookie crust to another dish with higher sides to hold the toppings, carefully flip the cookie out of the pan and remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cookie. Place the cookie in the new pan with taller sides.TIP: Remember that if your baking pan (cookie sheet, pizza pan, or casserole dish) has high enough sides to hold several inches of toppings, you do NOT need to transfer the cookie to another dish.
- Spread the cream filling evenly over the cookie top. If you have tall edges, smooth the cream to the edge of the dish to create a barrier, so the strawberry glaze will not ooze down along the cookie edges. Spoon the strawberry kiwi glaze over the cream filling ensuring the strawberries and kiwi are dispersed. Since the glaze is runny at this point, focus on fruit placement letting the glaze simply flow where it wants. It will set up in the fridge when it cools.
- It's best to allow the pizza at least 2 hours to chill and set up in the fridge before slicing and serving. Once set, cut slices like a pizza or pie and serve.TIP: You can make and assemble the pizza the day before you want to eat it.
Video
Notes
Interested in some other sweet treat recipes? Check these out.
No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies: Lower Fat, Gluten Free, & Vegan Friendly
Czech Palačinky: Thin Pancakes
Banana Pudding: No Cook & Egg Free
Argentine Alfajores Sandwich Cookies
Simple Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Gluten-Free & Vegan Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Latin American Tres Leches Cake
Australian & New Zealand Pavlova
New Zealand Kiwi Quick Bread (Regular & Gluten Free)
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