Fruit Pizza Is The Summer Dessert You've Been Looking For

From childhood birthday parties to your average Tuesday night to holiday dinners when you don't feel like roasting a turkey, there's never a wrong time to enjoy pizza. Saucy, cheesy, and piled to the sky with your favorite toppings, a hearty pizza is substantial and satiating. Still, sometimes we crave a bite of 'za with a zippier, fresher appeal, especially in the summer. Sure, you can swap pepperoni for arugula or sausage for juicy tomatoes, but a fruit pizza is the epitome of a refreshing summer dessert.

Structured analogously to its savory counterpart, fruit pizza has a crust, sauce, and fixings to tie it all together. Sweet, juicy, and crumbly, this uplifting combination of ingredients is a stimulating and dynamic-tasting treat that will leave you satisfied but not so full that you can't jump right back into the water at a chlorine-kissed poolside cooldown. With a variety of options for crust, sauce, and toppings, there are enough fruit fusions to please everyone's unique tastes.

Flaunting a bright, colorful visual appeal, fruit pizza is as elegant and eye-catching as it is appetizing. Making a fruit pizza is a fun, artistic, and creative process that makes eating it that much more rewarding.

Before selecting your assortment of toppings, you have to consider the pizza's foundation — its crust. A crust is like the spine of the pizza, keeping everything in place with the structure and stability to hold up to the weight of your favorite fruits.

An easy fruit pizza crust is one made from cookie dough. While a plain sugar cookie crust is a straight-shooting option with a sweet yet mild taste that amplifies the bigger, bolder flavor of your toppings, you can always try baking a crust from rich chocolate chip cookie dough for more luscious-tasting undercurrents. Pro-tip for gluten-free foodies: Use almond flour when baking a cookie dough crust.

Another simple yet sweet selection is a graham cracker pie crust. With its warm and honeyed flavors, a graham cracker crust marries well with eccentric, vibrant flavors of fruit. Don't forget to add a dash of cinnamon for an extra layer of comfort. Just make sure to roll out the crust into a flat circle rather than baking it in a pie pan.

For something especially dessert-like, try a chocolatey, buttery brownie crust that balances the acidity of the fruit. To bolster the garden-fresh spirit of the fruit, a grassy matcha brownie crust is an adventurous yet toothsome route.

Reduce the effort of scratch-making a crust by purchasing a pre-made cookie cake or pie crust from the supermarket or bakery. Be prepared to fill the space in a store-bought pie crust with extra sauce — Chicago deep dish style.

Once you've built the foundation of your fruit pizza, it's time for the fun stuff: toppings. Don't be afraid to think outside of the box, either. The world is your oyster ... or ... your pizza? Just make sure to pick out high-quality produce to maximize the freshness of your fruit pizza.

Creamy, sweet, yet ever-so-slightly savory, nut butters are a tasty and utilitarian choice for fruit pizza sauce. Top with ripe banana slices and an assortment of berries. Then, sprinkle with grandma-style pizza sauce bombs courtesy of fresh strawberry jam, and you have yourself a peanutbutter and jelly-inspired fruit pizza that will make both your tastebuds and party guests dance.

Because it's a quintessential summer dessert, consider building a fruit pizza with summer seasonal produce. A coconut cream sauce gives the pizza a tropical-tasting base that's bolstered by the oceanside essence of juicy mangoes, the nectarous appeal of peaches, and the tangy sting of diced pineapple. When drizzled with a swirl of floral agave nectar and a delicate squeeze of lemon or lime juice, you're left with the perfect summer-shaded fruit pizza.

Use these options as a jumping-off point for your own creative combination of toppings, but don't take yourself too seriously along the way. Don't hesitate to garnish with fresh herbs like mint or basil, or finish things off with a heaping spread of whipped cream. Enjoying the process of making this fruity pizza dish is just as important as enjoying it after.