Fruit Pizza, requests, and photography!

This is probably the absolute EASIEST recipe you will ever make, and it will garner RAVE reviews from your family and friends. Those are two things that I LOVE putting together, easy, and great. I even broke one of my cardinal rules for this baby, by following the recipe, and using pre-made, refrigerated cookie dough. Which I usually believe is DEFINITELY from the devil. I mean NOTHING beats homemade cookie dough. But in this case, it's all about the ease of this recipe, and nothing's easier than rolling out pre-made dough. It comes to you from one my culinary heroes, Paula Deen! I mean, really who DOESN'T love her? Everytime I see her on TV I just want to invite her over to hang out with me. I feel like she'd be the best friend you'd ever have, not to mention the goodies she's bring to the party! I could just see us being great friends, sipping on some homemade mint iced tea, watching Steel Magnolias, and eating something fried, and wrapped in bacon.

Also, this recipe is a request from one of my awesome friends, Tricia, and the last recipe (the fruit salsa) was a request from another great friend, Rene. If there are any recipes YOU are dying to try, but don't feel like wasting the ingredients if they suck, feel free to leave me a comment, and I'll be happy to try them for you. And I'll only send you a bill for 1/2 the ingredients! Okay, just kidding, I won't bill you for anything, but I will blog about here, so we can save the world from bad recipes, and shout it from the mountaintops for good recipes. Consider the comment box your all-night, request live station, and me, your cooky all night radio DJ. I'm excited to see what you guys come up with!

Also, I have just downloaded a copy of Photoshop Elements, so once I have time to sit down, and figure out how to use it, we should have some much more beautiful photographs on here! Now, onto the recipe!

Hallelujahs: Easy, delicious, beautiful
Hellfires: Not enough frosting, I would double the recipe next time, also 1 roll of cookie dough was not enough for my pan, I had to buy two, and had some left over of that 2nd roll, which is a hallelujah for my taste buds, but a hellfire for my hips!

**Note, the original recipe called for a green apple on the fruit pizza, but The Husband (a fruit pizza connoisseur) felt that it did not go with this recipe, so I left it out. I also used mandarin oranges, instead of a navel orange, because they are just so cute, and because in keeping with the theme of this recipe, they are MUCH easier than cutting a navel orange. In addition, I've adjusted the amount of white chocolate chips/chocolate syrup, because I had WAY too much left over, so much so that even I couldn't have eaten it all. Also, I'm going to list this with the doubled recipe for the frosting, and the cookie dough, because let's face it you can't have too much frosting, or cookie dough.**

Fruit Pizza a la Paula Deen

2 rolls refrigerated sugar cookie dough
2, 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar (aka confectioner's sugar)
1 large peach, sliced
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1/2 pint fresh strawberries, sliced
6 ounces fresh blueberries
6 ounces fresh raspberries
1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted
1/4 cup chocolate syrup


-Preheat oven to 350*
-While oven is preheating, spray cookie sheet, or other pan (I used a stoneware cookie sheet), and roll cookie dough to form an even layer on the bottom. You can make this as thick, or as thin as you like, depending on your optimum crust to fruit ratio.
-Bake crust for 11-15 minutes, or until it is firm to touch. If you cook it too long, it will be hard, and very difficult to cut, and eat.
-While the cookie crust is cooling, combine the cream cheese, and powdered sugar in your mixer.
-Spread the cream cheese frosting on your cooled cookie crust.
-Artfully (not haphazardly, you didn't know you had to be an artist, here, did you?) arrange your fruits on the crust.
-Melt white chocolate chips.
-You can do this by making a double boiler on the stove, or by microwaving at half power in 20 second increments. Do NOT burn your chocolate. You will regret it, I promise.
-Add chocolate syrup to melted white chocolate, and stir.
-Drizzle chocolate mixture over your fruit pizza until it looks delicious!

Original Recipe found at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/fruit-pizza-recipe/index.html
(notice that Paula's pizza is MUCH more beautiful than mine, yet mine was still tasty...thus proving that you do NOT have to be an artist to make a delicious fruit pizza!

Enjoy! And keep those requests coming!