This American flag sourdough fruit pizza is a guaranteed crowd pleaser. Start with a sourdough sugar cookie crust and top it with a cream cheese frosting and fresh berries. This sourdough recipe is great for 4th of July, Memorial day and any other patriotic holiday or celebration.
Growing up my family always used to make fruit pizza. As I become older, I love to create these with my kids! And we enjoy taking them to family celebrations because they are such a crowd pleaser (and are quite beautiful to look at!).
Because I am sensitive to gluten, I wanted to put a creative twist on this classic summer treat and make a sourdough fruit pizza. We brought this American Flag sourdough fruit pizza to our latest family gathering and it was quickly devoured. And I mean…not a crumb was left.
This recipe has a soft and chewy sourdough sugar cookie crust base which is topped with a delicious cream cheese frosting and fresh berries. We have enjoyed this topped with raspberries and strawberries, though the recipe is flexible based on what your store has available (or what your garden has in season).
Ingredients for sourdough fruit pizza
There are three distinct parts to a sourdough fruit pizza – the cookie crust, frosting and fruit. Gather these ingredients to make a refreshing and sweet sourdough American flag fruit pizza!
Sourdough Sugar Cookie Crust
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Provides rise to the recipe
- Egg yolks
- Two egg yolks are used opposed to one egg. This helps to ensure the sugar cookie dough has the perfect amount of moisture. Egg whites should not be used within this recipe.
- Sourdough discard
- Active sourdough or sourdough discard can be used
- White Sugar
- Butter
- Unsalted butter is our favorite within this recipe
- Flour
- All purpose flour works best. Organic, unbleached flour is a staple in our household.
- Vanilla extract
- Almond extract
- This is optional, but the balance of both vanilla and almond extract truly bring this recipe to another level.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream cheese
- Butter
- Vanilla Extract
- Powdered Sugar
Fruit Pizza Toppings
This sourdough fruit pizza specifically calls for red and blue fruit. We between strawberries, raspberries, cherries and pomegranate seeds for the ‘red’ color and blueberries or blackberries for the ‘blue’ color.
Other fruit pizza topping options include mangos, bananas, apples, pineapple, kiwi, peaches, pears, dragon fruit, oranges, mandarins, melon and honeydew. If you use bananas, pear, apple or peaches, serve the fruit pizza immediately or add lemon juice to the fruit to reduce browning due to contact with air.
Kitchen Tools
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Hand Mixer
- 9″ Cake Pans (with pre-cut parchment paper rounds)
- Non Stick Parchment Paper rounds
How to Make Sourdough Sugar Fruit Pizza – Long vs. Short Fermentation
This recipe is highly adaptable based on time and fermentation goals. You can choose to do a shorter fermentation on the counter, a long bulk fermentation in the fridge, or none at all.
The longer the fermentation time, the more the phytic acid will break down. People with a gluten intolerance, including myself, can commonly digest long fermented sourdough.
To make a long fermented sourdough sugar cookie crust, make the dough and allow it to sit on the countertop for 4-8 hours before placing in the fridge for 12-48 hours.
The longer the sourdough cookie dough sits in the fridge, the stronger the ‘sour’ flavor will become. The cookie dough will not rise, like a homemade sourdough bread, so you do not have to worry about it ‘over proofing’.
Should you choose skip fermentation and go straight to baking, or have a short fermentation, you can enjoy the dessert quicker. Simply mix the ingredients together and allow the dough to sit on the countertop for your choice of time or go straight to baking.
American Flag Sourdough Fruit Pizza Instructions
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease your baking pans (9″ round cake pan or 9×13 glass pan). Alternatively, use parchment paper or a cake liner to help the crust pull up from the pan once baked.
First, combine all cookie dough ingredients together with a hand mixer. This includes the flour, sourdough discard, baking powder, salt, sugar, egg yolks, butter, vanilla extract and almond extract (optional).
Press the cookie dough into the pans. We used two 9″ round cake pans for this dessert.
Cook for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookie bounces back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean. The crust will become very slightly golden brown. It is better to undercook the cookie dough than overcook it.
Once cooked and cooling, place on a cookie sheet to cool.
While the cake is cooling, wash and cut your berries. If you are using strawberries, remove the green stem. Depending on the size of your strawberries, cut them in half.
In a separate bowl, blend together the cream cheese frosting. Combine the powdered sugar, cream cheese, unsalted butter, salt and vanilla extract.
Beat the cream cheese and butter until the mixture turns from yellow to white in color. Add a pinch of salt and vanilla extract. Finally, add powdered sugar to the mixture one cup at a time. Adjust sweetness according to your preference.
Reserve half of the mixture to ‘frost’ the cookie. The other half will be used to pipe white lines onto the fruit pie.
Use the blueberries to line the outside perimeter of the cake. Make a square in the right upper hand corner of blueberries.
Place the cut strawberries in a stripe pattern, leaving 1-1/2 inches between rows. Pipe the cream cheese frosting between the strawberry rows.
Serve immediately.
Fruit Pizza Storage
Leftovers can sit out for the day on the countertop, though the sourdough fruit pizza does well in the fridge. Keep in the fridge for 3 days or the freezer for up to 3 months.
The freezer fruit pizza will last in an airtight container or ziplock bag. To thaw, place in the fridge or countertop prior to enjoying.
American Flag Sourdough Fruit Pizza Variations
Different Sourdough Cookie Dough Crust: Use your favorite sourdough cookie recipe for this crust. It is equally good with sourdough chocolate chip cookie dough.
Frosting Variation: Use your favorite frosting on the base and for the white strips. Whether it be vanilla frosting, piped whipped cream or a basic cream cheese frosting – all are great!
Bananas for Stripes: Use bananas instead of the cream cheese frosting to make the white stripes of the flag. To use this option, halve the recipe for the frosting to ensure the cookie is covered and the fruit is stuck. Add 1 tsp of lemon juice to your bananas to ensure they do not brown when cut and exposed to air.
Long Fermented Sourdough Fruit Pizza:
This recipe can be fermented on the countertop for additional health benefits. If you choose to let the sourdough discard work its magic – this batter can sit on the counter for 4-8 hours.
This recipe is not meant to double in size, this is simply to allow the gluten to break down further by fermenting longer.
If you would like to ferment the dough longer, place in the refrigerator for up to 2 days before cooking. Note, the sourdough flavor will be more pronounced within this recipe the longer it bulk ferments. This brings balance to the sweetness of a sugar cookie.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can you use active sourdough discard?
You can make this recipe with active sourdough discard. If you use sourdough discard at its peak you can leave out the baking powder.
What is the difference between fruit pizza and a fruit tart?
A fruit tart is made of a flaky, buttery crust. Traditionally this is thin in nature and is a ‘wrapper’ for the fruit. Fruit tart is also commonly cooked in the oven so the fruit releases juices.
A fruit pizza is a sugar cookie crust. It is topped with frosting or yogurt and fruit.
What is the crust of a fruit pizza made of?
Fruit pizza crust is traditionally a sugar cookie crust. You can make your own fruit pizza dough (aka sugar cookie dough) from scratch or buy a tube of sugar cookie dough.
What if I only want to make one fruit pizza?
This recipe will make two 9″ round cake pans or two 9×13 rectangle pans. If you want to make one fruit pizza, you can reserve your cookie dough in the freezer.
Wrap the remaining cookie dough in a log shape within plastic wrap before placing it into a freezer safe bag or container for up to 3 months. When ready to use, allow to thaw by placing on the countertop or fridge until pliable.
American Pie Sourdough Fruit Pizza
Equipment
- 2 large bowls (1 for cookie dough and 1 for frosting)
- 1 hand mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Sourdough Sugar Cookie
- 2 – 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 sticks unsalted butter (at room temperature)
- 1/2 cup sourdough discard
Fruit Decoration (For decorating two 9" round pans)
- 1 cup blueberries
- 2 cups whole raspberries or halved strawberries
- 1-2 bananas (optional, see notes)
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 TBS cream cheese (Full or Reduced Fat)
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 1-1/2 to 3 cups powdered sugar (to taste preference on sweetness)
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer, combine butter and sugar together until white and fluffy. The butter will turn from yellow to white in color after about 2-3 minutes of being whipped with hand mixer.
- Add in egg yolks one at a time. Add in vanilla extract (and almond extract if using) and sourdough discard. Blend until smooth.
- To the wet mixture, Add salt and baking powder. Mix.
- Add flour one cup at a time until combined. Do not overmix.
- If fermenting on countertop, Cover tightly with plastic wrap or place in an airtight container. Allow to ferment 4-8 hours, or overnight. The goal is not for the dough to grow, this step is done to reduce the amount of phytic acid / gluten in the flour.
- Place in the fridge for a bulk fermentation, up to 2 days. If skipping counter fermentation and / or bulk fermentation, follow baking instructions.
- When baking sourdough sugar cookie crust, remove the sugar cookie dough from the refrigerator 30 minutes to 1 hour before baking. The dough will be softer when touched, like a tube of cookie dough.
- Spread the cookie dough into two round 9” pans or two 9X13 glass rectangle pans. Using a fork, poke holes in the dough to allow steam to releasewhile cooking.
- Cook at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookie is very slightly golden brown. The cookie will harden at room temperature. A softer cookie is better than hard!
- While the cookie is baking, make the cream cheese frosting and wash/cut your berries. If you are using strawberries, remove the greens and cut in half.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- To make the cream cheese frosting, combine together powdered sugar, cream cheese, unsalted butter, salt and vanilla extract.
- Cream together butter and cream cheese until the mixture turns from yellow in color to white. Add in a pinch of salt and vanilla extract. Add in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, adjusting according to your sweetness preference.
- Half of the mixture will be used to “frost” the cookie and the other half will be reserved for piping white lines on the dessert.
Decorating the Cake
- Once the cookie has cooled completely, spread half of the cream cheese frosting on the the cookie.
- Use blueberries to outline the cake. Reserve some blueberries aside to make a square shape in the upper left hand corner of the fruit pie.
- Using the strawberries or raspberries, make a red stripe. Place the raspberries or strawberries face down. Leave a 1-1/2 inch space between stripes.
- Once the red stripes are complete, pipe the cream cheese frosting between layers.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- If you are using bananas in place of the cream cheese topping as the white stripes, cut your bananas and cover in lemon juice before placing them on the fruit tart. Reduce the cream cheese topping ingredients by half, unless you would like some reserved for dipping.
- Note, because of the nature of this sugar cookie crust, it will absorb some of the fruit juices as it sits. The cream cheese frosting will act as a layer, but it makes it even more delicious!
- Cover with plastic wrap and place the leftovers in the fridge for up to 6 days. Alternatively, store in a cake box or pizza box to ensure frosting does not stick to container.
What is your favorite topping on fruit pizza? Let us know in the comments below of what your favorite combinations are!
So good! Simple yet seemingly fancy and impressive. Almond extract is a must 🙂 orange zest is also a fun punch to add to the crust. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! Ooh – orange zest is such a great idea to increase the fruit flavor. I will be trying the next time!
This is so festive and creative! Thank you!
Thank you – I hope you enjoy!
This look so good, I’m going to make it for the holidays. Sourdough and fruit are my two favorite things!
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out – we love the sweet flavor from the fruit and tang from the sourdough – yum!
Absolutely beautiful!! Family will be impressed with this one
Thank you! Let me know how it turns out!