My Mother-in-Law has made fruit pizza for quite a few desserts. It is something that everyone likes, and the bright colours really show that spring is (finally) arriving. But, since celiac disease has entered the family, things needed to be changed up a bit. The last time we got together for supper, I brought this gluten-free Fruit Pizza for dessert, and there were no leftovers!
This fruity pizza, which has the base of a sugar cookie, is simple but delicious! It can be made up to a day before, depending on the fruit that you are using. I’d suggest using fruits that do not have a tendency to get mushy over time, like bananas do. Strawberries, cherries, grapes, peaches, nectarines, blueberries, kiwi, and mango are just a few suggestions. You are really only limited by what you have on hand or what is in season. I used canned peaches, and although not as good as fresh, it was still quite tasty.
Gluten-free Fruit Pizza
This fruity pizza, which has the base of a sugar cookie, is simple but delicious! It can be made up to a day before, depending on the fruit that you are using.
Ingredients
Cookie Crust
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon unflavoured gelatin
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- 1/4 cup tapioca starch
- 1/4 cup potato starch
Cream Cheese Layer
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup confectioner's (icing) sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Fruit
- Enough bright, colourful fruit to cover the top of your pizza.
Glaze
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
Instructions
Cookie Crust
- In bowl of mixer, beat margarine until creamy.
- Add rice flour, xanthan gum, gelatin, egg, sugar, milk, baking powder, vanilla and salt. Beat well.
- Add tapioca starch and potato starch. Beat until well combined.
- Place dough in lightly greased pizza pan. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top of the dough, and smooth it out, filling the pizza pan.
- Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly browned around the outside of the crust. Cool.
Cream Cheese Layer
- Beat cream cheese, confectioner's sugar & vanilla until smooth & creamy. Spread on cookie crust, once it is completely cooled.
Fruit
- Wash, dry & cut fruit as necessary. Arrange on top of cream cheese layer in a circle pattern, starting from the outside and going in.
Glaze
- In a saucepan, combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, orange juice, lemon juice and water. Cook and stir over medium heat. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat, and add grated orange rind. Allow to cool, but not set up. Spoon over fruit. Chill for at least 2 hours, then cut into wedges and serve.
Notes
Your cream cheese layer will prevent your cookie from getting soggy from the fruit & glaze. Try to spread the cream cheese to the outside of the cookie, and pour the glaze when it is thick enough to not just run over the fruit, but coat the fruit.
Melanie says
Wow – that fruit pizza is stunning! The colors are beautiful and I bet it tastes amazing.
betty r says
I believe you that there would be no leftovers!! It looks amazing, Jeanine!
Happy Mother’s Day!
The Gluten-free 'Dish' says
Your picture is worth a thousand words!
Jeanine says
Thanks Melanie, it was very tasty. 🙂
Betty, Happy Mother's Day to you too!! 🙂
Thanks again for the compliment. 🙂 I like it when the food is nice & bright, makes taking pictures that much easier.
Naomi says
Hi! I just found your blog while searching for a good GF zucchini bread recipe. Thanks for posting such great recipes & beautiful pictures! I can't wait to try your recipes.
Naomi
Jeanine says
Hi Naomi! Welcome here. 🙂 If you ever have any questions, or a certain recipe you’re looking for, let me know! Happy Baking!
Karina Allrich says
Beautiful! Simply gorgeous. I’d love to try and vegan version.
Jaime says
i love love love fruit tarts!!! this looks so beautiful!
Rachel says
Beautiful dessert. I remember my mom making something similar for parties when I was growing up. Bookmarked this one, for sure!
Sara says
This looks and sounds so amazingly yummy! I just have a question because I do not have any cornstarch and I'm not a big fan of orange juice. Any suggestions on substitutes for these two items? Thanks so much!!
Jeanine says
Hi Sara,
It is good! I am making another one today, actually. 🙂
For the cornstarch, you could substitute it with potato starch. The orange juice, you could use another favorite juice, like apple juice. You could even do water, but then it wouldn't have as much flavour.
Sara says
Thank you for the quick response! I will be making this soon for sure. I'll let you know how it turns out. Your food recipes really really make my day. 🙂 It's nice to have such a large resource of recipes that are gluten free. I love your doughnut recipe. I make it all the time. Delicious!
Jeanine says
Thanks so much, Sara! It is comments like yours that really really make my day. 🙂
So glad that you've been enjoying the donuts. I've made them a few times myself, and find that making donut holes, using a cookie scoop to scoop the dough, makes this much easier than rolling them out and cutting donuts. Which means that you can be eating them that much sooner. 🙂 Thanks again!
Skaggs says
This sounds wonderful!!! I have one question I'm pretty new to gluten free cooking and I have seen several of your recipes call for Gelatin. What does gelatin do for a baked item? Hold it together? Fluff?
I have tried a lot of your recipes and they are awesome. Please keep posting I love your food.
Libby says
My family loves your site since my attempts with your sandwich bread recipe have reintroduced bread into our home and diet – many thanks. Quick question: the French bread/Pizza four mixture calls for gelatin and egg replacer which I would prefer not to use. We are not vegans. So is there a way to leave those ingredients out and just use an egg in the recipe later? Please let me know what options there are. Thanks so much for all the great recipes.
Libby
Jeanine says
I checked my Bette Hagman recipe book for the gelatin answer, and this is what the book says (summarized by me):
You can leave gelatin out, but she suggests using it because it adds protein, and yeast combines with it to give elasticity to the bread. The added protein in the gelatin helps to give the bread it's texture. Since we lose protein by not using a wheat flour, we add protein in different forms. You can use dry milk, soy milk, nut milk, egg whites, and nut meat, to name a few.
Adding an extra egg later may make the dough too wet though. So, I'd try leaving out the gelatin, and using a milk for the liquid instead of water. HTH!
LaVonne says
I've made this twice, and I love the recipe!
However, I can't get the glaze to turn out? It's more like globby glue? but again extremely tasty!! I've thought about cutting the starch a bit? The flavor was so good though, that I decided *not* to mess with it the 2nd time. I have a picture up that's almost as good as yours on facebook! Thanks for sharing all your work!! :]
Jeanine - The Baking Beauties says
@LaVonne, So glad that you like it, LaVonne. For the glaze, are you pouring it on before it has a chance to set up? Because you should be able to pour it over your fruit pizza, and after it's poured on (and smoothed itself out), it will set up, and sort of hold your fruit in place. I love this dessert, it's refreshing compared to some heavier desserts, and it's just beautiful with all the coloured fruit.
Barbara Demetrioff-Mielkie says
What size pizza pan is used for this recipe.
Jeanine Friesen says
I believe it was 14-inch pizza pan. I now use half of my gluten free rolled sugar cookie recipe instead of this cookie base though, you can find that here: https://www.faithfullyglutenfree.com/gluten-free-rolled-sugar-cookies/