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Kitchen Stewardship

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Recipe Connection: A Healthy (and Tasty!) Version of Fruit Pizza

July 28th, 2009 · 28 Comments · Do It Yourself, Upgraded Nutrition, recipes

Every recipe I’ve ever seen for fruit pizza uses sugar cookie dough as the base. Usually they call for pre-packaged, trans-fat and white-sugar laden monstrosities.  That bums me out.  I really wanted to treat my family to a fruit pizza when my son was working through the Garden of the Good Shepherd Calendar and Jessica at Shower of Roses recommended one in her excellent connecting activities.

Since I’m trying hard to focus on real, whole, healthy foods, fruit is a great option…but storebought cookie dough is not.  Even a homemade sugar cookie dough recipe would have had a bunch of white flour and white sugar that our family can do without.  I decided there had to be a way to make a healthy fruit pizza that still tastes good. Here is the mouthwatering result:

healthy fruit pizza recipe whole grain

Oops, couldn't help tasting a little bite before I remembered to take a picture!

I thought and thought about what else could be used for a “crust” instead of a sugar cookie.  Vegetable pizzas rely on crescent rolls or bread dough, but I needed something decidedly dessert. I decided to try going part whole wheat on a shortbread recipe, and I’ve since gone all the way.  If you believe the Nourishing Traditions theory that real butter is not only better than margarine (please at least buy into that part!  Margarine is fake food, plastic!) but is actually good for you, especially if it’s grass-fed, this dessert hinges on being a health food. It even has probiotics.  It’s very low in sugar, less than most muffins you’d eat for breakfast, and although I have allowed white sugar to remain in the recipe, I bet it would be possible to substitute something even healthier.

Without further ado, here is…

Katie’s Healthy Fruit Pizza


Crust:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter (if you forget to set it out, roll it with a rolling pin to soften)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour (King Arthur sells this in regular grocery stores; it’s made from hard white spring wheat.  Traditional whole wheat flour is hard red wheat; if that’s all you have, I wouldn’t go with more than half whole wheat, half white flour.  I tried this, and it tastes “healthy” and is quite crumbly.  You also may want to increase the butter to a full cup with traditional whole wheat flour.)

Cream butter and sugar.  Stir in flour and finish by hand.  It might be very crumbly and you’ll think it will never come together, but persevere.  You can also go shy on the flour.

healthy fruit pizza recipeAdd  a little more butter if necessary, but it really can look like the photo above and still come together like this when you use your hands:

100% whole wheat fruit pizza dough recipeOnce the dough comes together when you squeeze it, begin to press a handful at a time into a buttered pan.  Mine happens to be a heart, but a small cookie sheet or even a 9×13 glass dish should work too!  (UPDATE:  My new favorite pan for this is my Pampered Chef baking stone.  I roll it out gently with a rolling pin.  It helps that I added another 1/4 cup of butter to the recipe.)

img_7072Aim for a thickness of about 1/4″.  Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15-20 minutes.  As soon as you see brown on the edges, it’s done!

img_7074Watch the edges; they can brown quickly!  Now for the fun part.  While the cookie crust cools, make the “frosting”.

Frosting:

  • about 3/4 cups yogurt cheese or cream cheese, softened
  • less than 1/4 cup powdered sugar, like so:

img_7075I just sprinkle some sugar on and taste to make sure the frosting isn’t too tart. 

Turn on your beaters, watch your one-year-old daughter do a happy dance because she loves big noises (or maybe that’s just in my house?), and watch the frosting consistency appear before your eyes:

img_7076

img_7077Spread on top of your cooled “crust”:

img_7078and finish with a variety of fresh fruit, including:

  • kiwi
  • bananas
  • strawberries
  • peaches
  • berries of any kind
  • and more…whatever is in season and/or on sale
  • for example, at Christmastime, it’s beautiful with kiwi, dried cranberries OR pomegranate seeds, pineapple, and/or banana

img_6937Voila!  A dessert you can be proud to serve for any party or picnic, not only because of its gorgeous presentation, but also because it’s packed with good food (and just a smidge of sugar).   Not that you have to share your creation…you might just eat it all yourselves like our family did! This is serious melt-in-your-mouth stuff. (Or you could set it on top of your van and forget it’s there like I did with my second one, feeding the road instead of the visiting family members…so, so sad.)

Check out my other great summer recipes:

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Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

I’m pleased to participate in Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff, Real Food Wednesday at Cheeseslave, Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap, Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum, Ann Kroeker’s Food on Fridays, Friday Feasts at MomTrends, the Make it from Scratch Carnival at Frills in the Hills, Holiday desserts at Amy’s Finer Things. and Valentine’s Day treats at Life as MOM (if only I still had my heart-shaped pan!).

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