As temperatures soar in the summer, we all head to the store for our favorite way to beat the heat—tubs and tubs of ice cream.
Wait a Sec—What’s Freezer Burn?
Ever re-open a tub of your favorite ice cream only to find a thin layer of ice on top? The ice crystals ruin the silky smooth texture and wash out the flavor, leaving your Peanut Butter Cup crunchy, icy and sort of icky. It’s still perfectly safe to eat, but it lacks creaminess, or as Ben & Jerry’s puts it, euphoria.
How to Stop Freezer Burn
It’s pretty easy—all you have to do is flip the pint!
After grabbing a couple scoops from a brand-new pint, put the lid back on and turn that pint upside down before refreezing. This lets all the partially melted ice cream drip onto the lid where it can’t blend with the still cold portion, leaving the rest of your tub full of creamy, dreamy deliciousness. Just make sure the lid is super tight before you do this.
If you’re wondering, this hack works on homemade ice cream, too.
Thanks to Amrita Thakkar of TasteofHome.com for this handy tip.
In this fruit pizza recipe you get a soft and tender sugar cookie base that’s covered with a rich cream cheese topping, and layered with a generous amount of vibrantly flavored fresh fruit.
Then it’s finished with a sweet apricot jam which gives the pizza the perfect finishing sheen.
Simply put it’s a staple summer recipe! I love to make it at least once every summer and top it with a colorful variety of seasonal fruit.
You just can’t go wrong with a cookie topped with a sweet and tangy frosting, lots of tasty fruit and a simple fruit pizza glaze.
And the possibilities of how it can be decorated with creative patterns are endless. Such a fun dessert that everyone will love!
Ingredients You’ll Need for Fruit Pizza
Flour: I like to use unbleached all-purpose flour it has a better flavor.
Baking soda and baking powder: These help the cookie crust rise.
Salt: Added to keep the crust from tasting flat.
Butter: Unsalted butter is recommended but if you only have salted then just omit the salt in the recipe.
Granulated sugar: This is added to both the crust and the frosting.
Egg: This binds the dough ingredients and helps give the crust a nice texture.
Cream Cheese: The main ingredient to the frosting. The rich tanginess pairs perfectly with the cookie crust and sweet fruit.
Vanilla extract: Adds a little extra flavor to the crust and frosting.
Fresh fruit: Don’t use frozen fruit, stick with fresh for best texture and flavor.
Apricot preserves: This adds a nice sheen to the fruit but you could skip it if you’d prefer. Another option would be just to brush with honey (mixed with a little water if needed to thin).
Can I use a store-bought sugar cookie dough?
Yes. Another option for the easiest recipe is to use a tube of store-bought sugar cookie dough (such as Pillsbury) instead of making the crust from scratch. Directions are noted in the recipe.
For the cream cheese frosting and toppings:
Blend icing ingredients in a mixing bowl: In a mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), whip cream cheese, 6 Tbsp granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until light and fluffy.
Top and decorate fruit pizza: Spread frosting over crust and top with fruit.
Brush with glaze: In a very small mixing bowl whisk together preserves and water. Brush mixture over fruit.
Best Fruits to Use
There are a lot of options here but these are my favorites:
blueberries
kiwis
grapes
mangoes or peaches
mandarin oranges (bottled are fine if you drain well)
pineapple (I used that to cut a star shape as well)
raspberries
strawberries
Fruit Pizza
You get a soft and tender sugar cookie base that’s covered with a rich cream cheese frosting, then that is layered with a generous amount of vibrantly flavored fresh fruit, and lastly it’s finished with a sweet apricot jam which gives it the perfect finishing sheen. Servings: 10 servings Prep Time 5 minutes Cook Time 14 minutes Resting time 2 hours Total Time 19 minutes
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
1 2/3 cups (236g) all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached (scoop and level to measure)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
12 Tbsp (170g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Topping
1 (8 oz) pkg. cream cheese, nearly room temperature
6 Tbsp (38g) granulated sugar (or a little more to taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Fruit Layer
5 cups (approx.) assorted fresh fruit*
1/4 cup apricot preserves, pressed through a sieve to remove lumps
1 Tbsp water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a rimmed 12-inch pizza pan (without holes), line with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment paper.
For the cookie dough crust: In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer cream together 3/4 cup granulated sugar and butter until well combined. Scrape down bowl.
Mix in egg, then blend in 2 tsp vanilla extract. Scrape down bowl.
Add flour mixture then blend just until combined.
Drop batter onto prepared pizza pan, then spread into an even layer with hands coated in non-stick cooking spray.
Bake in preheated oven about 11 – 13 minutes until just baked through.
Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
For the cream cheese topping: In a mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), whip cream cheese, 6 Tbsp granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla until light and fluffy.
Spread topping over cooled crust.
For the fruit layer: Decorate pizza with fruit as desired.
In a very small mixing bowl whisk together preserves and water. Brush mixture over fruit.
Serve within a few hours of preparing for best results. Store in refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
*I like to use fresh fruit such as strawberries, kiwis, raspberries, blueberries, pineapple, grapes, mango, peaches or mandarine oranges). Avoid fruit that will brown quickly such as bananas or apples.
Store-Bought Sugar Cookie Dough Method
Use 1 (16.5 oz) pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough.
Keep all toppings the same.
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a rimmed 12-inch pizza pan, line with a round of parchment paper and butter parchment paper (or alternately line with foil and spray foil with non-stick cooking spray).
Crumble cookie dough over prepared pizza pan and spread into an even layer to completely cover bottom of pan. Bake 13 – 14 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
Tips for the Best Fruit Pizza
If you have a kitchen scale use that to measure ingredients for the most consistent results.
If you find the dough is a little to sticky to work with you can chill it for 30 minutes before spreading into pan (then increase bake time by a few minutes).
Don’t skip greasing hands, it will make the dough more manageable to spread into pan.
Let crust cool completely or the icing will just melt.
Use bright sweet fruits for best flavor, also choose those with rich colors to create pretty patterns.
Chocolate chip cookies are a nearly universal joy, celebrated each year on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (Aug. 4). They’re also easy and cheap to make. Whether you’re baking a batch of a classic family recipe or the original Nestlé Toll House recipe, absolutely no one will complain about the tasty and heartwarming result. Still, it might be time to try one of these fun, bakery-worthy versions to mix it up.
These indulgent cookies are an ooey, gooey twist on two family favorites. Incorporating toasted marshmallow s’mores into soft cookies is surprisingly simple and especially fitting for summer, the season for cooking s’mores over a campfire. When there’s no camping trip on the calendar, a batch of s’mores cookies can be ready in less than three hours.
Sprucing up regular chocolate chip cookies with colorful M&M’s is an easy way to bring a classic to the next level. It’s a common upgrade at the holidays, thanks to the festive look from seasonal bags of red and green candies, but it can add extra fun anytime. There’s no special technique: Simply supplement the chocolate chips with M&M’s.
Chocoholics unsatisfied with just a few morsels will gobble up this cookie, which takes a good thing and makes it better — by adding more chocolate. This recipe has a 4.5 rating (out of 5) from thousands of reviews, with 80% of users giving it top marks.
Adding visual appeal to a dish can greatly enhance its enjoyment, which is part of the idea behind these cookies infused with three kinds of chocolate chips: white, milk, and dark. The different chips also create richly layered flavor.
Using bacon in sweets is a trend that has thankfully stuck around. The interplay of the umami-rich and salty bacon offsets the sweet chocolate, making all the flavors pop. These piggy cookies are sure to be a welcome cap to barbecues and other savory meals.
Cookie cakes — really just giant, communal cookies — are fun for celebrations and make a big impression using the same inexpensive ingredients and without being much more complicated than a batch of traditional cookies. A specialized pan is required to pull off a cookie shape, though.
Chocolate and coconut have had a long love affair. Adding coconut flakes to the classic goodie is an easy way to lend richness and decadence. One reviewer reminds bakers to store the cookies in tins to retain crispness, rather than let them soften by putting them in Tupperware.
Caramel lovers will rejoice at the way soft, creamy, buttery caramel enhances a tender chocolate chip cookie. The main trick is inserting a caramel candy inside each cookie-dough ball before baking, but there are a few other details that make this recipe diverge from conventional chocolate chip cookie making.
For more recipe’s like Expresso, Salted, Nutty, and Oatmeal, just click below. As for me, I need to find a cold glass of milk and try some of these goodies.
Peanut butter gives the perfect salty balance to the sweetness of homemade ice cream. This peanut butter ice cream recipe brings all the flavors together with chocolate chips too.
Next time you want a decadent, sweet and salty ice cream for dessert, give this Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Ice Cream recipe a try.
Put on a show with a display of these patriotic cookies.
8 ingredients
Refrigerated
2 Eggs, large
Baking & Spices
4 cups All-purpose flour
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Royal icing, Red White, and Blue
1 Salt, Coarse
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla extract, pure
Dairy
2 sticks Butter, unsalted
Directions
Instructions Checklist
Step 1Make the cookies: Sift flour, baking powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a large bowl.
Step 2Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture, then vanilla. Refrigerate dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 1 hour.
Step 3Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Roll out dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness on a floured surface. Cut out cookies using a 1 3/4-, 2 1/4-, 2 3/4-, or 3 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, rerolling scraps once. Transfer to a baking sheet. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
Step 4Bake until edges just start to brown, 17 to 19 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
Step 5Decorate the cookies: Pipe an outline of white icing around edge of 1 cookie, leaving a 1/4-inch border, then “flood” with more white icing to cover.
Step 6Immediately pipe a red or blue dot in the center of cookie. Then pipe concentric rings of colors around the center dot (using the same color as the dot, or alternating colors).
Step 7Immediately drag a toothpick through the colors to create bursts, starting from the center dot and working toward the edge, then alternate dragging inward and outward as you work around the cookie. (Or drag around the cookie in 1 direction or curve the lines for a pinwheel effect.) Let dry. Repeat with remaining cookies and icings.
I’m Autumn, a mom of five who loves ice cream, and, it’s summer, which means it time for the blogging world (and the rest of the world?) to go crazy about s’mores again. Seriously, smores are like the pumpkin spice of July, right? Let’s make s’mores everything! And it turns out I’m just as guilty as all the other bloggers. This year I’ve already shared s’mores cake mix cookies and s’mores crack (aka Golden Graham bars), both of which are ridiculously delicious.
These frozen s’mores are the perfect treat for a hot summer day because you get all the chocolate/marshmallow/graham cracker taste in a cold refreshing format. They’re easy to make and keep in the freezer so you can hand them out next time you have a bunch of kids running through the sprinkler in your backyard.
FROZEN S’MORES RECIPE
Frozen s’mores are easy to put together with just a couple of ingredients. Graham crackers, chocolate pudding, and marshmallow creme, plus cream cheese and cool whip.
You start by making the pudding and marshmallow layers, and freezing them in a 9×13 pan until they are hard enough to slice. At that point you slice the layers up and sandwich them between graham crackers. Frozen s’mores can then be eaten right away or stored in a zip top bag in the freezer. I like to keep them in the freezer for a few hours because the graham crackers will get a little soft, making them taste a bit more like an ice cream sandwich.
Frozen S’mores
Layers of chocolate pudding and marshmallow creme make these frozen s’mores the best way to enjoy a s’more on a hot summer day!
Prep Time 20 mins Freezing Time 6 hrs Serving 15
Ingredients
1 box instant chocolate pudding 6 serving size
2.5 cups cold milk
16 graham crackers
7 oz marshmallow creme
4 oz cream cheese softened
8 oz frozen whipped topping thawed
Instructions
Line a 9×13 pan with foil or parchment paper, allowing paper to overhang pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together pudding mix and milk until smooth and creamy. Pour into 9×13 pan and spread into an even layer.
Chill pudding layer while you mix up the marshmallow layer.
In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese and marshmallow cream until smooth. Fold in whipping topping.
Spread marshmallow layer over chocolate layer. Cover with foil.
Freeze layers about 6 hours, until firm enough to cut through. Use the foil or parchment paper to remove layers from 9×13 pan and place on a cutting board.
Break 15 graham crackers in half. Slice pudding/marshmallow layers into 15 squares the same size as the graham crackers.
Sandwich layers in between two graham crackers. (Watch the video in the post for an easy way to do this.)
Eat right away or store sandwiches in the freezer in an airtight bag or container. Graham crackers will soften slightly if stored in the freezer for a while. After they’ve been frozen, allow them to rest at room temperature about 10 minutes before eating for the best texture.
Sweet, creamy, melts in your mouth, flashbacks to summer. Mmmm! All of these things are what comes to mind when thinking about a really great homemade vanilla ice cream recipe!
How to Make the Most Indulgent Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
Be prepared for how completely simple this is! Combine all ingredients in a blender. I love the KitchenAid 5 Speed Blender with BPA free pitcher! Blend until vanilla bean is chopped into super small pieces. Use a spatula to make sure you’re not missing any of the yummy cream!
Poor batter into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s directions to freeze the ice cream.
Depending on how frozen your ice cream maker can get this treat, you might want to poor the ice cream into a freezer friendly container and let freeze for 1-3 hours to let set up a bit.
Super Simple Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe
Prep Time 5 min Total Time 25 min
Ingredients
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1 cup sugar
2 tbs. vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 vanilla bean (option- if leaving out, add 1 more tbs. of vanilla extract)
Instructions
Blend all ingredients in a blender until ingredients are completely combined, sugar is dissolved, and vanilla bean is broken into super small pieces.
Poor batter into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s directions to freeze the ice cream.
(Optional) Poor ice cream into freezer safe container, sealed, and freeze for 1-3 hours before serving. To allow the ice cream to firm up a bit more.
Grab a spoon and enjoy!
Thanks to Brittany for this Hits-the-spot-suggestion. She adds:
What makes this simple flavor so spectacular is that it leaves so much room for some tasty toppings!
