If you’re looking for a dessert that’s quick and easy yet impressive (and of course, delicious), this fruit pizza is perfect. It’s a deliciously soft and chewy sugar cookie crust topped with a cream cheese frosting that’s the perfect amount of sweet, then topped with fresh berries arranged in a beautiful pattern. This recipe comes together so quickly – there’s no need to chill the sugar cookie dough before baking. It’s ideal for feeding a crowd at your next celebration!

berry fruit pizza recipe by sugar and sparrow

Quick & Easy Sugar Cookie Pizza

The base (aka crust) of this fruit pizza is a super soft and chewy sugar cookie. The sugar cookie dough comes together so quickly with simple ingredients and doesn’t require ANY chilling before you press it into the pan and bake! I’ve tried this recipe in a 12-inch round pizza pan (just don’t use the kind with the holes in the bottom) and also a 9×13 sheet pan. Both are great options for a fruit pizza!

easy sugar cookie dough recipe no chilling

Once cooled, the baked sugar cookie was fairly easy to transfer from the pan to a serving plate. I ran a large spatula around the sides and underneath the cookie crust, then gently lifted it out onto a plate. Then, I decorated with the cream cheese frosting and fresh summer berries. It’s truly the perfect sugar cookie pizza crust!

Fruit Pizza Key Ingredients & Substitutions

This berry fruit pizza uses simple ingredients for the cookie dough and toppings. I’ve listed some of the key ingredients below, along with any substitutions you can make.

All Purpose Flour. This is also known as plain flour. It provides the perfect amount of structure for the sugar cookie pizza, keeping it soft yet chewy. I would not recommend replacing this with any other type of flour except gluten free all-purpose flour (if you want a gluten free version).
Unsalted Butter. I use unsalted butter in the sugar cookie pizza and the frosting. For the perfect consistency of cookie dough and frosting, make sure the butter is room temperature and not too softened. If you only have salted butter on hand, you can use that as a substitute as long as you omit the salt from the recipe.
Whole Egg + Egg Yolk. The sugar cookie pizza calls for one large egg and one large egg yolk. The extra egg yolk adds the perfect amount of moisture to the baked cookie, resulting in the ideal chewy texture. You’ll add one large egg, then separate a second egg and add just the yolk. You can either discard the extra egg white or save it for another recipe.
Pure Vanilla Extract. For the perfect flavor and dimension. If you like your sugar cookie dough with a hit of almond extract, feel free to substitute ½ teaspoon of the vanilla extract with almond extract.
Full-Fat Brick-Style Cream Cheese. It’s really important to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese for the frosting in this recipe. The spreadable kind in tubs and low-fat versions contain too much water content, resulting in a frosting that is too thin and liquidy. If you can’t find full-fat brick-style cream cheese locally, you can substitute it for an equal amount of mascarpone cheese or use a different frosting recipe (my vanilla buttercream with half the amount of powdered sugar would be a good option).
Fresh Berries. I topped this fruit pizza with sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. I used about two cups of fresh berries for the topping total (exact amounts in the next section). You can substitute berries for any kind of soft fruit as the topping!

How Many Berries Does it Take to Decorate?

The exact amount of each berry type you use will vary based on the design you choose to decorate your fruit pizza. I used about two cups total for this design pictured. Here are the amounts:

6 sliced strawberries
6 oz blackberries
4 oz raspberries
4 oz blueberries

how to decorate a fruit pizza with fresh berries

You can use any kind of fresh berries you want as a topping for this fruit pizza recipe, so feel free to get creative!

How to Decorate a Fruit Pizza

Before I decorated this fruit pizza, I drew out a design on a piece of paper. You can definitely go with the flow with this, but it helped me to visualize the final design. After frosting the sugar cookie crust with cream cheese frosting using a small angled spatula, I placed the fresh berries in a pattern according to my drawing.

cream cheese frosting recipe for sugar cookie pizza

sugar cookie pizza with cream cheese frosting and fresh berries

Some other ideas for decorating a fruit pizza with summer berries:

Make flower petals with the sliced strawberries and use blueberries as the centers
Make an American flag if you’re feeling patriotic
Sprinkle the berries in a totally random formation
Make straight rows with the berries instead of decorating in rings

Storing & Serving a Fruit Pizza

This fruit pizza recipe is fairly quick and easy, but if you don’t want to make it and decorate on the same day, you can bake the sugar cookie pizza crust one day ahead and store it at room temperature, covered in plastic wrap. You can also frost the sugar cookie pizza one day ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator covered loosely in plastic wrap. The only thing I don’t recommend doing ahead is decorating with the fresh berries. This is because they can leak their juices over time and the fruit pizza may not look as impressive.

To serve this fruit pizza, I found it easiest to slice the round pizza into triangular slices using a large chef’s knife, cutting straight down to keep the berries as intact as possible. If you want more servings (or are baking this recipe in a rectangular pan), you can cut it into squares and serve.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic wrap, for up to five days. It probably won’t last that long because YUM. It almost tastes healthy because of all the fruit so it’s hard to stop eating this. Consider yourself warned!

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Pizza

2 Cups + 2 Tbsp (283g) all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 Cup (170g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 Oz (226g) full-fat brick-style cream cheese, room temperature NOT the spread
1/4 Cup (57g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 Cups (150g) powdered sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Topping

2 Cups fresh berries I used blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and sliced strawberries.

Instructions

Make the Sugar Cookie Pizza

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (177ºC) and use baking spray to coat the bottom and sides of a 12 inch round pizza pan or 9×13 inch sheet pan.
In a medium bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a large bowl and hand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
Turn the mixer to medium and add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Mix until combined, then add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until a uniform cookie dough forms.
Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan in an even layer, all the way to the edges. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown (I took mine out at 13 minutes). It will continue baking as you cool it in the pan.

Make the Cream Cheese Frosting

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a large bowl and hand mixer), beat together the cream cheese and butter on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 4 minutes. Add the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Mix on low speed until combined and uniform, scraping down the bowl and paddle as needed.

Assembly

Once the sugar cookie pizza is cooled, add all of the cream cheese frosting on top and use an angled spatula to smooth it down until it reaches about 1/4 inch from the edges. Arrange the berries on top, then serve!

Notes

Cream Cheese: it’s really important to use full-fat brick-style cream cheese in this recipe. The spreadable kind has too much liquid content and as a result, your frosting won’t have the proper consistency.

Berries: you can use any kind of berries (or any kind of fruit!) in this recipe. I used about 3 ounces of blueberries, 6 ounces of blackberries, 4 ounces of raspberries, and 6 sliced strawberries for the fruit pizza pictured.

Make Ahead Tips:

The sugar cookie pizza can be baked and stored at room temperature, covered with plastic wrap, one day ahead of time.
The cream cheese frosting can be made ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. When you’re ready to use it, bring it back to room temperature and give it a few stirs to bring it back to smooth frosting consistency.
The fruit pizza can be frosted and stored in the refrigerator, covered loosely in plastic wrap, for up to one day. I recommend adding the berries the same day you serve to keep the fruit pizza looking its best. Otherwise the berries may leak their juices into the frosting.
Store leftover fruit pizza in the refrigerator, covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.