Easy Patriotic Fruit Pizza

If you love a tender shortbread crust with a creamy cheesecake topping, you’ve stumbled across the right recipe! This luscious fruit pizza has a buttery crunch on bottom, is rich and creamy in the middle, and is covered with fruit to give it an extra burst of flavor on top.

Celebrating the 4th of July

Here in American we celebrate Independence Day (the Fourth of July) where we commemorate the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified on July 4th, 1776.

At that time the Continental Congress declared that the thirteen colonies were no longer subject to the King of England. They were free states, independent from their former oppressor.

The Declaration is filled with nuggets of truth and wisdom, which we cherish.

On the 4th we Americans celebrate with fireworks, parades, BBQ, picnics, and in a host of other ways, to boot! More than anything, we’re in it for the food.

Baking for the 4th of July

I wanted to make something special to celebrate the 4th. I’m all about the red, white, and blue! I love patriotic desserts so much that I dedicated a whole post to them some time ago. Follow this link to learn more about 4th of July cookies, cakes, Oreos, and much more.

It’s always fun to add that splash of color to any dessert to give it a patriotic feel.

For this year’s celebration I had a craving for something cheesecake-like. I remembered my Cherry Cheesecake Pie and thought that something similar might be in order.

Years ago my good friend Kay made a lovely fruit pizza for one of our get-togethers. I decided to merge the two ideas (my cherry cheesecake pie and her pizza) into a patriotic dessert.

Ingredients

Wondering what you will need to make this fruit pizza? It starts with a similar shortbread crust to my pecan bars or my Cherry Almond Bars. You’ll find a full printable recipe card at the bottom of this post but here’s a quick peek at what you’ll need:

FOR THE CRUST:

• all purpose flour
• powdered sugar
• room temperature butter (salted or unsalted, your choice: save the butter wrapper)
• Pure vanilla extract

FOR THE FILLING:

• full fat cream cheese
• sweetened condensed milk
• lemon juice

FOR THE TOPPING:

• berries (I only had frozen but I recommend fresh because my frozen berries got a little weepy after-the-fact.)

How to Make Easy Patriotic Fruit Pizza

This is an easy fruit pizza. It comes together so quickly, you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of it sooner!

First, start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Next, use the butter wrapper or non-stick spray to grease a 11 x 7-inch pan. (You can also use a 9 x 13-inch pan but the crust will be pretty thin).

Place a sheet of parchment paper in the pan side to side. (See photo for example.)

MIX THE CRUST:

Soften your butter in the microwave if it’s not already room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl combine your flour, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract. You can use a pastry cutter or hand mixer. You can even use a stand mixer with paddle attachment if you choose.

Mix until crumbly.

Pour into baking dish and pat down using the bottom of a cup or a measuring cup. Don’t worry if it doesn’t fully come together.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 20-30 minutes or until golden brown. (A smaller pan leads to a thicker crust, which might require the full 30 minutes. A larger pan leads to a thinner crust, so you can probably get away with 20 – 25 minutes for a 9 x 13-inch pan.

I left mine in the full 30 minutes and it was a little too crisp for my liking. You can see from the photo below that I let it get too dark. Full disclosure: I was playing with my new foster puppies and got distracted!)

Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool.

Place in refrigerator to continue cooling.

MAKE THE FILLING:

While the crust is baking, make your cheesecake filling.

Make sure your cream cheese is fully softened before you begin. You don’t want it to be lumpy.

Start by creaming your cream cheese in a medium bowl using an electric mixer. (You don’t want to try this by hand.) I skipped this step and had to work harder to make the filling perfectly smooth.

Combine whipped cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, and lemon juice in a large mixing bowl.

Mix at medium speed until it is light and creamy.

Spread your cream cheese mixture across your chilled shortbread crust.

(Leave in dish)

DECORATE YOUR PIZZA!

It’s time to add the red, white, and blue! This is the perfect dessert for the 4th or even for Labor Day, Memorial Day or Veterans Day. Patriot holidays are even better with themed desserts.

You can do this in any design you like, but since I opted to use a rectangular dish it only made sense to turn mine into a flag.

Have a blast adding your berries (and/or cherries, which would also be a fine option). There are so many different ways you can design this, so don’t feel like you have to make a flag!

HOW TO STORE THIS FRUIT PIZZA

Cover with plastic wrap and place back in the refrigerator. (Or place in airtight container.)

Leave the refrigerated pizza in the baking dish until you’re ready to transfer it to a serving platter or cutting board. This should be done at the last minute using the parchment paper to help you lift it from the pan.

(Note: You can serve it in the same dish but be sure to trim down the edges of the parchment paper so they don’t show. Be careful to separate fully from parchment paper upon serving.)

After showing off your lovely design, cut into squares using a pizza cutter. Serve chilled.

What to Expect from this Pizza

This is such a good fruit pizza!

If you love cheesecake, you’re going to flip over this filling. It’s luscious and creamy, just like a no-bake cheesecake. (In fact, this is the very recipe I use to make my cheesecake filling.)

What really takes it up a notch is the buttery shortbread crust on bottom. It’s the perfect complement to the filling. (It’s very much like a sugar cookie base.)

And that fruit? It’s perfect! Truly! This is one of those 4th of July desserts you won’t soon forget! (And it’s even better the next day after it’s chilled overnight.)

See this recipe at

Full Plate Thursday 

Weekend Potluck

Sunday LinkUp

Variations on this Patriotic Pizza Recipe:

This is the perfect patriotic dessert (a real crowd pleaser) but you can change up the toppings for other holidays. The cheesecake filling is the perfect complement to many, many toppings and it’s sure to be a huge hit year round.

• Use fresh blueberries and strawberries. (This would be perfect during strawberry season!) You can substitute raspberries for strawberries if you like.
• Pillsbury sugar cookie dough is a great quick substitute for the shortbread crust if you’re in a hurry. (A pre-made cookie dough is always easier.)
• For Christmas, add sugared cranberries and mandarin oranges.
• Another Christmas option: Bake this sugar cookie pizza in the shape of a tree and decorate with kiwi (green) and strawberries (red).
• For Valentine’s Day bake your shortbread crust in a heart-shaped pizza pan and decorate with red berries.
• For a friend or loved one’s birthday, skip the fruit and add chocolate shavings on top of the cheesecake.
• Turn it into a Turtle pizza by adding caramel, miniature chocolate chips, hot fudge, and chopped pecans on top of the cheesecake filling in place of fruit.
• For Thanksgiving, add some pumpkin to your cheesecake mix (or add a layer of pumpkin underneath your cheesecake. You can add pumpkin pie seasoning to the pumpkin if you like.

Other Holiday Favorites from Out of the Box Baking

I hope you enjoyed this American flag fruit pizza. We love our holiday treats at Out of the Box Baking! Here are a few favorites.

• Christmas Cupcakes: These are delightful!
• Valentine Sugar Cookies: These are my favorite cut-out sugar cookies.
• Easy Holiday Peppermint Bark: This is a Christmas favorite!
• Mini Pumpkin Pies with a Pecan Crust (from Southern Home Express)

Thanks for stopping by, friends! I hope you have an amazing 4th of July!

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About the Author

Janice Thompson is an author, baker, and all-around mischief maker! She has overcome a host of baking catastrophes, including a toppled wedding cake, to learn more about the baking process. Janice has published over 150 books for the Christian market but particularly enjoys writing recipes and baking devotions. To learn more about Janice or to drop her a note, visit her About the Author page.