Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, there is no shortage of holidays that require red, white and blue food. Instead of the traditional flag cake, how about this American Flag Fruit Pizza?
The idea of this appeals to all ages; kids love the cookie crust and gooey filling. Adults also love that gooey filling because it is actually Kyle's Cheesecake Mousse; a little more sophisticated than your average fruit pizza!
The crust for this is my grandmother's Cookie Dough Pie Crust recipe. Grandma and Grandpa lived in a giant brick house with a big kitchen (it wasn't actually that big, but to ten year old me, it looked huge!) and she was always so patient teaching me to bake and decorate cookies. I love that she passed down some of her favorites.
Don't be scared away! It looks like a lot of instruction, but most of it can be done ahead of time. Make the crust 2 days ahead of time, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature. You can also make the Cheesecake Mousse 1 to 2 days in advance and refrigerate in a sealed container. Then, the day of the event, just put it all together!
Start by baking the crust in a parchment paper lined pan, this will enable you to easily move it to your serving tray.
Once it's safely on the serving tray, add a layer of the Cheesecake Mousse.
After the fruit is added, brush with a mixture of jelly and water.
Pipe the white stripes and stars and there you have it; this American Flag Fruit Pizza is a treat that will charm the youngest to the wisest!
American Flag Fruit Pizza
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 10" x 15" "Pizza" Crust - Can be made up to 2 days in advance, recipe below
- 1 batch cheesecake mousse - Can be made up to 2 days in advance, recipe below
- 8 ounces raspberries,, strawberries can be substituted
- 6 ounces blueberries
- 2 Tablespoons red currant jelly, or substitute berry or apricot
- 2 teaspoons water
"Pizza" Crust Ingredients:
- ⅔ cup pecans, or nut of your choice
- 2 cups flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 ¼ cups unsalted butter at room temperature
"Pizza" Special Equipment:
- Parchment paper
- 10" x 15" baking sheet
- Cheesecake Mousse
Cheesecake Mousse Ingredients:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar, divided
- 12 ounces cream cheese
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons milk
Instructions
"Pizza" Crust Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Line a 10" x 15" baking sheet with parchment paper. Be sure to leave a couple inches hanging over each side to help in lifting the crust out of the pan.
- Put the nuts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped. Be careful not to turn them into nut butter!
- Add the flour, sugar and salt and pulse a couple of times until mixed.
- Add the butter and pulse until the mixture comes together in a soft dough.
- Press the mixture into the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350ºF for 12-15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool.
Cheesecake Mousse Directions:
- In a large bowl, beat heavy cream with an electric mixer until it starts to thicken; slowly add in ⅓ cup of the powdered sugar.
- Continue to mix until thickened and stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat or it will become overly thick and clumpy; but it needs to be stiff to pipe well.
- Pour into a bowl; set aside.
- In the same bowl (no need to rinse out), beat the cream cheese until smooth.
- Continue mixing and add in the remaining powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Beat until well combined.
- With a spatula, gently fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, until just combined.
Refrigerate until ready to use.
Assembling the "Pizza":
- Using the excess parchment lift the "Pizza" crust out of the pan. Carefully slide the cookie off the parchment onto a platter or cake board. I cracked my last crust, but put it back together like a puzzle and it was fine!
- Spread a thin layer (at least ⅛" thick) of cheesecake mousse over the top of the "Pizza" crust and smooth out.
- Put the remaining mousse into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or round tip; or put the mousse into a large plastic bag with one corner cut off to enable the piping. Store mousse in the refrigerator while arranging the fruit.
- Arrange the blueberries in a rectangle in the top left corner of the long side of the crust. The blueberry rectangle should be about 5-½" x 4-½ ".
- Using a knife, mark 12 lines in the mousse to make 13 spaces for the stripes.
- Use the raspberries to make the red stripes on the flag (I cut my raspberries in half and laid them down because they were so large, but you can leave them whole if you like.) If using strawberries, cut them into fourths and lay them horizontally across the cream to make the red stripes. (If you want to be authentic, there are 7 red stripes and 6 white.)
- After the blueberries and raspberries are in place, heat the jelly and the water, over low heat, until jelly is melted.
- Using a pastry brush dab the jelly mix onto the fruit, this keeps it shiny.
- Now it is time to pipe the white stripes. You can pipe them straight or embellish a little, your call.
- Then you can pipe little "stars" between the blueberries if you like.
- And there you have it, a patriotic and yummy take on a fruit pizza!
Notes
Gr8 Do Ahead Tips:
- The crust can be made up to 2 days ahead. Cool completely and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
- The cheesecake Mousse can also be made up to 2 days in advance, refrigerate in a sealed container. When ready to use, just whisk it so it is creamy.
Gr8 Usage Tips:
- If you have leftover Cheesecake Mousse, check out Kyle's post for using it.
- This crust recipe can also be used in place of a graham cracker crust. Try it with your favorite pudding filling! (This recipe should make two 8" crusts.)
- This recipe makes one-and-a-half times Kyle's recipe.
Be a Gr8 Friend and tell us what you think!