Fruit Cookie Pizza Pie

(Like how I incorporated everything yummy?)
There are so many tasty ways to celebrate America’s Independence Day!  Fresh fruit straight from the garden (or even market) is topping my family’s list.  It’s colorful, sweet, and always refreshing on a hot summer day! 
Throw the word “pizza” onto the dessert menu and you’ll have everyone running, including the cat, to get some! Can you blame Kitty?  This looks so good and is such a cute picture! Mmmmmmmm!
Here’s how you can make your own yummy bite!

What’s Needed:

• 1 roll of refrigerated sugar cookie dough

• Fresh strawberries (approx. 2 cups)
• Fresh blackberries (approx. 2 cups)  
• 1 package of light cream cheese (8 ounces)

• 1/4 cup of powdered sugar

• 2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel
• Melted apricot jelly (peach works too)

​Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, or whatever is listed on the cookie dough package.  Then spray a 12-inch pizza pan with nonstick spray.

The first real step is a lot of fun. 
You get to play with dough.  Break the roll of cookie dough into small cookie sizes and place on the pizza sheet.  Once the pan is covered, press the dough out until the entire pizza pan is covered.  We’re using the already made sugar cookie dough because it doesn’t crumble as much as homemade dough. Of course, either way will work. It’s up to you.
 
Once the pan is completely covered with cookie dough, stick it in the oven to bake.  Be sure to watch the clock and don’t let it burn.  Pull it out of the oven when it’s a golden brown.  It took me about 20 minutes to bake this one.
 
Don’t eat the cookie yet.  It’s too hot and we still need to cover it with our fruit toppings.    

While it cools, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon peel.  Stir it until it’s nice and fluffy.  Probably about 2 minutes will do it. Now spread it on top of the baked cookie.  Cover the entire thing.
If your kids don’t know how to draw a star yet, give them a hand.  Err, I mean a finger.  Trace the star out into the dough. This is going to be your guideline for placing the fruit. 

We used fresh red strawberries to make the star.  You could use your blackberries if you want to make a blue star instead.  Just plop the strawberries on there until they’ve formed a star.
Now, use the other berries to cover the rest of the cookie. Raspberries with blueberries is a great option.  Our strawberries are fresh and sweet so I wanted to use them for this cookie pizza.
Once the fruit is placed, melt apricot jelly and pour it right on top.  This creates a yummy glaze.

Enjoy your Fourth of July with this amazing treat!