Fruit Pizza Recipe

I've seen a few chefs on Food Network whip up a dessert pizza or two, so I decided to try making one myself based off a recipe in my Costco Creative Cooking book. I ended up improvising quite a bit, but that's part of the fun of home cooking, right?

Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 1 prepared thin-crust 12-inch pizza crust
• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 bananas
• 4 cups assorted fresh fruit
• 1/4 cup of nuts
• 1/4 cup raisins (optional)
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Cooking Instructions:

1. In a bowl, blend the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla extract until well-mixed and smooth. Set the mixture aside.
   
2. Wash, peel, and slice the fruit however you like. I used fresh bananas, strawberries, kiwis, and grapes, but you can use any fruit that would make a good topping. Set the fruit aside.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
   
4. Spray a 12-inch pizza pan with cooking spray. (I didn't have a pizza pan, so I just used a large baking tray. So my pizza ended up in a rectangular shape.)
5. Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes. The crust should now be a golden brown color. Let the crust cool down for about 10 minutes.
   
6. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust.
7. Arrange the banana slices over the cream cheese. Then arrange the other fruit slices on the pizza, varying colors and shapes.

   
   

8. Sprinkle the nuts and raisins over the pizza. I used whole almonds on mine, but you could easily use whole or chopped pecans or pistachios.
9. For an added touch of decadence, heat up some chocolate chips in a small pan on the stove and drizzle the melted chocolate over the pizza. And if you have any chocolate left over, you can have some fondue on the side!

   
   

10. Cut and serve your pizza. And there you have it - a quick and tasty dessert. Enjoy!