Recipe for Fruit Pizza

I figured that since I've been procrastinating for, oh, about 4 months now , that I might as well put it on my blog, so that I could just tell people where to go (...) when they wanted it. So, here is the perennial favorite, the dish that won second place in the 2005 Library Holiday contest, the dessert that leaves you crying out for more (and it even makes good breakfast eatin', if there are actually any leftovers), the Miller family's famous Fruit Pizza.



Fruit Pizza


Crust
1/2 cup butter or margerine
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup flour
1 t cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 to 1/2 cup ground nuts (almonds preferred)

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in egg. In separate bowl, mix remaining ingredients together. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and stir well until blended. Press in to greased pizza pan. Bake 10-12 minutes at 400 degrees, or until golden brown. Cool.

Topping
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 small can pineapple slices or chunks
1 can mandarin oranges
1 banana, sliced and dipped in lemon juice to prevent browning
1 pint fresh strawberries
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Drain canned fruit, reserving the juice.

Blend cream cheese, sugar, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved juice together. Spread on crust, not quite up to the edges.

Slice and arrange fruit in a pleasing pattern on top of the cream cheese.

Combine remaining juice with cornstarch. Heat in microwave oven or on stovetop until juice has thickened slightly. Drizzle mixture over fruit.

Cover Fruit Pizza with plastic wrap and cool in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Serve and stad back!