I can’t remember why I made these cookies. I can look at my digital photos, of course, and see the date. And I remember that particular weekend being INSANELY busy, with lots of different obligations and occasions to gather and celebrate. I remember standing in the kitchen, frantically trying to finish these treats so I could get on the road to go . . . somewhere.

So if you ate these or happen to remember my calendar better than I do, let me know, eh?

Edited to add: Sheesh. I made these for my friend Michelle’s baby shower! I knew it was something I went to with Annalyn but not Mark, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember what girls-only event it was! For the record, the shower was a lot of fun and Michelle is wonderful. My brain is the stupid one that forgot.

Anyway.

You know how, after you’ve been friends with a group of people for a while, you start to recognize certain things about them – their music preferences, their tendency to be a night owl or morning person, the jokes they laugh at, the restaurant they pick? Well, one of my groups of friends has celebrated enough showers and parties and potlucks and dinners together that I can recognize – and often even anticipate – what dishes they’ll bring to those events.

My friend Amy makes an amazing blueberry cheesecake and meatballs. Amanda makes delicious buffalo chicken dip. I make a mean pan of brownies (from a box) and jalapeno popper dip is always a hit. And one of our friends often made a delicious fruit pizza.

I always enjoyed eating a bit of her fruit pizza, but never wanted to make it myself. I don’t know why. Maybe because she made it on a Pampered Chef stone, and I never quite mastered that particular cooking method? (Stuff just burns when I cooked it on my stone! You tell me it has to be seasoned, but with what? Burned food particles? I JUST DON’T GET IT.)

Anyway.

I remembered all that when I saw a picture on Pinterest of miniature fruit pizzas made on sugar cookies. BRILLIANT! I thought. [Because obviously THESE wouldn’t have to be made on any kind of baking stone. My regular cookie sheets would work just fine. Obviously. (Because, DUH, I obviously could have made a regular fruit pizza on a regular cookie sheet as well.)]

When I followed the pin from Pinterest to a blog, I realized that someone had pinned badly. It took me to a blog’s home page, not a specific post, and finding the recipe for mini fruit pizzas proved difficult. And, actually, further searching for a mini fruit pizza pin with a good link was just as . . . fruitless. Heh.

Luckily, I don’t need a recipe to use refrigerated sugar cookie dough – or to cut up fruit into tiny pieces. I did go old-school, though, and pull out an actual cookbook for the frosting. (This one about kids baking, from Williams Sonoma.)

As I was browsing my food photos over the weekend, I ran across a few pics of these fruit pizzas and realized I’d never shared the recipe with you (probably because I seem to have lost the memory of the circumstances surrounding them…). I also couldn’t help but notice the pretty red, white and blue colors of my fruit pizzas – and decided they were perfect for the 4th of July!

Mini Fruit Pizzas

2 packages refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/2 package cream cheese
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chopped/diced strawberries
1 cup blueberries

Bake the cookies as instructed on the package. As soon as I took them out of the oven, I took a spatula and lightly smashed each cookie. My theory was that the frosting and fruit would stay put better on a flat cookie than a puffy one. Plus, it was kind of fun.

While the cookies are baking, rinse and chop your strawberries and rinse your blueberries. Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. You might need to add more sugar, depending on the consistency you end up with (and your preferred ratio of cream cheese tang to sugar sweet).

When cookies have cooled, frost and sprinkle with fruit.

(And if you have extra frosted cookies with no fruit to top with, sprinkle a little cinnamon sugar on top and given them to your fruit-hating husband. Or maybe that’s just something that happens at my house…)

Do you like fruit pizza? And how do you feel about baking stones?

This post will be linked to Mouthwatering Monday, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green and Works for Me Wednesday.

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