Fruit Pizza

Fruit Pizza
Dorcas Annette Walker

There is something about color that fascinates me. In traveling around I was amazed at the dull homes some people live in. I must not be the woodsy type as staying in a place with only brown walls was the quickest way to depress me. I loved coming back home where each colorful room reached out to welcome and embrace me. I must be addicted as I surround myself with color. Just let me get my hands on a paint brush and I go wild. When I first suggested painting my porch floors a deep blue my husband and kids thought I had gone around the bend. I could visualize what a perfect match it would add to our house with soft yellow and white trim. Years later my husband reluctantly admits that it’s not bad. It is the same way with food. Why settle for something plain when a nifty twist of color will jazz up your dish or dessert? Needless to say making a Fruit Pizza satisfies something creative inside. My sister, Lois, who is a talented artist made the first Fruit Pizza I had ever seen. I was instantly hooked. The original recipe has become spotted and marked on throughout the years.

I was intrigued to find out that cream of tartar is obtained from the sediment that crystallizes during fermentation in the process of making wine. In fact a history journal reported that traces of cream of tartar were found in a wine pottery jar from the ruins of a village in northern Iran dating more than 7,000 years ago. Cream of tartar is the common name for potassium hydrogen tartrate, an acid salt that has a number of uses in cooking such as: stabilizing and giving more volume to beaten egg whites, produces a creamier texture in candy and frostings, used commercially in some soft drinks, reduces discoloration in boiled vegetables, is a powerful cleaning agent for pots, pans, and stove tops, cleans coins, and even is a folk remedy used mixed with orange juice for stopping smoking. You can substitute white vinegar for cream of tartar when beating egg whites, but is isn’t a good idea to use a substitution of white vinegar when baking as it has been found that cakes end up with a coarser grain and are more prone to shrinking than those made with cream of tartar. When used in baking, cream of tartar produces softer cookies.

My Fruit Pizza is a filling colorful dessert that epitomizes tropical and summer days yet can be made year round. The tangy blend of different fruits on a cream cheese filling rounded out with a sugar cookie crust is truly a culinary delight. You can mix and match different fruits to your hearts delight. Another idea is using the same recipe with a topping of berries: strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries for a nifty berry topping. Either way this Fruit Pizza recipe serves around sixteen and takes approximately thirty minutes to prepare.

Fruit Pizza

Crust:
½ c margarine or butter
½ c shortening
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 c self-rising flour
½ tsp cream of tartar
Combine ingredients and roll out on a large greased pizza pan. Bake at 350º for ten minutes and cool.

Cream filling:
1 pkg cream cheese
½ c powdered sugar
1 (8 oz) container of cool whip
Beat until smooth and spread over cooled sugar cookie crust.

Decorate with:
pineapple rings (save juice)
sections of mandarin oranges
sliced kiwi
strawberries
blueberries

Glaze:
1 c pineapple juice
1 c orange juice
4 tb cornstarch
Mix together in small saucepan and bring to a boil until thickened. Spread over top of layered fruit completely covering. If the glaze is too thick you can thin with orange juice. Chill and serve!

Dorcas Annette Walker is a freelance writer, author, columnist, and photographer from Jamestown, TN. If you have any cooking tips or favorite recipes you are welcome to contact me by mail at: Dorcas Walker, 929 Wildwood Lane, Jamestown, TN 38556 or email me at: dorcaswalker@yahoo.com. For more information about the Walker family and Dorcas’ books check out her website at: www.dorcasannettewalker.com or htpp://dorcasannettewalker.blogspot.com for other Creative Mountain Cookin recipes.