These mini fruit pizza tarts are a fun twist on the traditional summertime dessert. They are simple–yet impressive–and perfect for a patriotic celebration or backyard party!Three days left until the Fourth of July. I’m not sure I can contain Little Man’s excitement any longer. We got an ad in the mail for one of the firework stands in the area, and he was poring over it like it was a Christmas toy catalog. In fact, I threw it away during naptime, and he was so distraught when he woke up and couldn’t find it that we had to dig it back out. Suffice it to say, we will be buying fireworks this weekend. 

Other than doing a few fireworks and going to our favorite parade, we don’t have any big plans for this weekend. I’m actually excited about the free schedule though. We’ve been SOO busy for the past several weekends with camping trips, Father’s Day, and going to the local air show, that we haven’t had much downtime on the weekends. This weekend, I think we’ll catch up on some yard work, go swimming, and maybe have a movie night. Oh, and we’ll eat these lovely little treats that I made today.

Mini fruit pizza tarts…they’ve been in my head for awhile, and I thought they’d make a perfect summertime treat to jazz up the Fourth of July. I took the basic concept of a traditional fruit pizza, and miniaturized it (I’ve been doing that a lot lately–like with these muffins and these frittatas). Soft sugar cookie crust, sweet cream cheese filling, and some fresh fruit to garnish the top, and they’re the perfect bite-sized dessert. 

So, if you’re looking for some last-minute culinary inspiration for this weekend, try these out!

Mini Fruit Pizza Tarts

Notes:  For my tarts, I used this yummy sugar cookie recipe from Lauren’s Latest. It’s the perfect amount for making 24 tarts. If you’re short on time, you can go the easy route and just use store bought dough, or you can substitute your own favorite sugar cookie dough recipe.

Plan-ahead tip: You can easily make the cookie crusts a day or so ahead of time and store in an airtight container until you’re ready to fill them. That way you just have to whip up the filling and assemble them on the day you plan to serve them.

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 small batch of sugar cookie dough (see note)

Filling

• 4 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

Topping

• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup strawberries

Directions:

1. First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin tin and set aside. Mix together your sugar cookie dough (as described here), and form them into 24 equal size balls. For me, the right amount of dough was enough to fill my small cookie scoop about half-way.
2. Place each ball in a muffin cup and press it into the sides to form a mini “pie shell”. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, cool in pan for a few minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling completely. (Note: My cookies puffed up a bit in the oven, so I pressed the centers back down to make a bigger space for the filling).
4. Make the filling by combining cream cheese and powdered sugar in a bowl and beating until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, whip the cream and fold it into the cream cheese and sugar mixture. Spoon filling into a piping bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes (alternatively, you can just spoon the filling in, but it won’t look as pretty). Pipe filling into each cup, filling just above the top.
5. Wash fruit and chop strawberries into small pieces (to match the size of the blueberries). Combine blueberries and strawberries in a bowl. Top each tart with a little bit of the berry mixture. Refrigerate until ready to serve. (Note: The longer you refrigerate them, the more likely the berry colors are to bleed into the filling. It doesn’t change the taste, but if you’re an aesthetic perfectionist, it’s something to consider.) ENJOY!

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