Celebrate the USA's most patriotic holiday with a 4th of July Fruit Pizza decorated like an Uncle Sam's Hat. This delicious red, white, and blue dessert is topped with cream cheese frosting, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and apples.
The 4th of July is always hot around here and when dining outdoors, it's a good idea to serve a cool and refreshing dessert.
My mom always made strawberries and cream fruit pizza for our backyard barbecues. I love the combination of a cookie crust with a cheesecake-type frosting all topped with fresh fruit.
And you know me, I can't just sprinkle the fruit on a plain old round cookie, I've gotta get creative.
I've seen lots of Fruit Pizza Flags on the web, and I thought it would be fun to take that one step further and create a patriotic red, white, and blue fruit pizza that resembles Uncle Sam's hat.
I cut a large sugar cookie into a hat shape, baked it, frosted it with cream cheese fluff, and then topped it with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and apples.
I've used several recipes to create my decorated fruit pizzas, and this one is by far my favorite.
4th of July Fruit Pizza decorated like Uncle Sam's Hat
Ingredients
Sugar Cookie Crust:
1 pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies Mix (or use your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
2 tablespoons flour, plus more for dusting counter
1 stick butter, softened
1 large egg
Cream Cheese Fluff:
8 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
1 cup marshmallow fluff
8-ounce tub of Cool Whip frozen whipped topping, thawed
Fruit:
¾ pound strawberries, hulled, and cut into small pieces
6-8 ounces blueberries
10-12 ounces raspberries
1 large Granny Smith Apple
a splash of lemon juice
Supplies
cutting board
2 sheets parchment paper
rolling pin
pizza wheel or knife
baking sheet
electric mixer
skewer, toothpick or knife
small star cookie cutter (1 inch - 1 ½ inches)
Instructions
If you are using Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix, I suggest you sift it before you begin to remove all of the lumps.
Mix cookie mix, flour, butter, and egg together until well combined. Scoop dough out of bowl, shaped into a round disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut out the cookie Uncle Sam Hat.
Line cutting board with parchment paper.
Dust the paper lightly with flour.
Unwrap the dough and set it on parchment paper. Roll out to ⅜ inch thickness. Use a pizza wheel or knife to cut out a hat shape. If you need a guide, find an image online and print it out to use as a template.
Remove excess dough and brush excess flour off parchment paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Frost the cookie and mark off the design.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Move the refrigerated cookie to the baking sheet by lifting up the parchment paper and sliding it onto the pan.
Bake for 14-18 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely then move onto a serving platter or nice cutting board.
Beat cream cheese and marshmallow fluff until well combined. Add Cool Whip and beat until fluffy. Reserve about ⅓ of this fluffy frosting for later. Spread ⅔ of the frosting over the cookie.
Use a skewer, toothpick, or knife to draw the Uncle Sam Hat design you'd like to use. I added stripes a band and the brim.
Cut out apple stars.
Slice a thin piece off each side of your apple (very thin, you just want to remove some of the skin and give yourself a flat surface.) Then make 4 thicker slices from each side.
Cut 4 stars from the slices.
Dip or brush stars in lemon juice to keep them from browning.
Decorate the fruit pizza.
Arrange fruit on the hat. Actually, before you begin, fill a pastry bag with the reserved frosting and pipe on the white stripes. I should have done that before adding the fruit. It would have looked nicer.
Add blueberries for the band, and strawberries for every other stripe.
Then add strawberries for the top of the hat and raspberries for the brim. Use a dab of frosting to "glue" the three stars on the hat, then cut one star in half and add it to the edge of the band.
You'll want to make this Patriotic Fruit Pizza the day you serve it for the best results. That way the fruit will be very fresh and the cookie crust will have some structure and crunch.
Related Recipes
If you like this Uncle Sam Hat Fruit Pizza, be sure to check out all of my other 4th of July Recipes.
Recipe
A red, white, and blue 4th of July Fruit Pizza decorated with cream cheese frosting, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and apples to look like an Uncle Sam Hat.
- 1 pouch Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies Mix (or use your favorite sugar cookie recipe)
- 2 tablespoons flour, plus more for dusting counter
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 large egg
- 8 ounces of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
- 1 cup marshmallow fluff
- 8 ounces (1 tub ) Cool Whip frozen whipped topping, thawed
- 16 ounces strawberries, hulled and cut into thin slices (see notes)
- 8 ounces blueberries
- 12 ounces raspberries
- 1 large Granny Smith Apple
- a splash of lemon juice
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Sift the cookie mix to remove any lumps into a mixing bowl.
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Add the butter and egg and mix until well combined.
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Pat the dough into a disc, place in a zip-top bag, and chill for 30 minutes.
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Line a cutting board with parchment paper and sprinkle a light dusting of flour over the paper. Unwrap the cookie dough and set it on the parchment paper.
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Roll out the dough to ⅜ inch thickness.
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Use a pizza wheel or knife to cut out a hat shape.
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Remove the excess dough and brush any excess flour off the parchment paper.
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Refrigerate the hat-shaped cookie for 30 minutes.
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Meanwhile, preheat your oven 375 degrees F.
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Move the refrigerated cookie dough on the parchment paper to a baking sheet.
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Bake the cookie for 14-18 minutes until lightly golden brown.
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Allow the cookie to cool completely then move it onto a serving platter.
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Beat the cream cheese and marshmallow fluff in a mixing bowl until well combined.
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Add the Cool Whip and beat until fluffy.
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Reserve about ⅓ of this fluffy frosting for later.
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Spread the remaining ⅔ of the frosting over the cookie.
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Use a skewer, toothpick, or knife to draw the stripes and detailes of the hat so you can use it as a guide when placing your fruit.
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Pipe three white strips on the hat and pipe an outline around the top oval on the hat.
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Arrange thinly sliced strawberries on the cookie to create the top of the hat and three stripes on the front of the hat.
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Arrange raspberries at the base of the hat brim and use blueberries to create the hat band.
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Cut an apple into thick, flat slices and then cut out 4 stars using a small cookie cutter.
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Brush the apple slices with lemon juice to keep them from browning.
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Arrange one star in the center of the hat band and two on either side.
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Cut the final star in half and set each half on opposite sides at the end of the blueberry hat band.
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Refrigerate for up to 4 hours before serving.
Tips for cutting strawberries.
You want to cut the strawberries so each piece has bright red showing. Cut the strawberries as if they had a pit inside, cutting off 4 slices. Lay the slices on a cutting board with the seeds facing up. Cut the slices so you have a lot of vibrant red showing not a bunch of white showing. This will give your fruit pizza a more vibrant red color.
Storage
This 4th of July Fruit Pizza is best served a few hours after it is decorated with fruit. You could add a glaze on top if you need to make it earlier. That will help to keep the strawberries looking fresh. You can also bake the cookie up to 3 days in advance and even add the frosting on top a day in advance.
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Rachel Harwood says
Awesome! Absolutely amazing! I want to make this and eat it right now! haha... so fun! Featuring this amazing idea this week too! xoxox
beth says
I'd like some of this right now too! I just spent the day at an amusement park and something fruity like this would make a great evening snack. Thanks so much for the feature:)
Beth Gorden says
So pretty!! I love all the brightly colored, healthy fruit!
I featured this on TGIF this week here:http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2013/07/tgif-linky-party-84.html. Thanks for sharing your creativity with the rest of us! Hope to see you linked up again later today.
Have a great weekend!
Beth
beth says
Thanks a lot, Beth! I appreciate being featured.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
This is so fun Beth! Festive and delicious - pinned!
The Bearfoot Baker says
This is brilliant!! I LOVE it!!
Hani Bacova says
Beth this is just brilliant. So festive and sounds really delicious too. You are rocking 4th with your creations!
Engagement Rings says
Thats really creative work! Such an exotic dish.
The Partiologist says
This looks so delicious and festive, I love the Uncle Sam's Hat shape! So unique!
Diane {Created by Diane} says
What a SUPER-FUN idea, looks almost too pretty to dig into 🙂
beth says
Thanks:)
Brenda @ Sweet Simple Stuff says
Love it! The apple stars are especially brilliant 😉
beth says
Thanks, Brenda. I couldn't decided between using star fruit, pears or apples. In the end the apples won out, but any would work.
Melissa_in_NJ says
Oh. My. Gosh. OUTSTANDING! I'm serious. Very creative and such a departure from the flag cakes you see everywhere. Will def be adding this to my list. I am sick this week so I don't think I'll be baking 🙁 but I want to make this next year. Beth I am SUCH a fan. Thank you for making me be so excited!!!!! (OK that sounds weird but I think you know what I mean!)
beth says
Hi Melissa,
Sorry to hear you are not feeling well. I do hope you get better soon.
It's always so nice to hear someone who has so much enthusiasm for what I'm creating. Thanks, I love it!!!!
Lisa@hooplapalooza says
oh Beth! this is simply awesome! 🙂
beth says
🙂
Samantha @ Five Heart Home says
Hopping over from Two-Cup Tuesday to say I love your creative cake! This is such a clever idea, and it's even better for using fruit for the red, white, & blue. I can't wait to pin it
beth says
Thanks for stopping by Samantha and I appreciate the pin!
sugarswings says
how cool is this????!
Katrina Bahl says
This is the cutest!
beth says
Thanks, Katrina!