Classic Vegan Fruit Pizza

Vegan Fruit Pizza! It is made with a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie crust, topped with sweet cream cheese filling, and finished with fresh fruit for the perfect summertime dessert.

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I know this summer is unlike what we imagined. With pools, camps, and even parks closed down, we are spending a lot more time in our own homes. But that doesn’t mean we have to miss out on summer. Summer, my friends, is all around us.

Over the past few weeks, my family has been spending a lot more time in our backyard. We play outside, work outside, and (my favorite) eat most of our meals outside. Whether we are grilling, cooking, or eating from the garden, outdoor meals have become a highlight of our indoor summer.

With our berry bushes abundant, one of my favorite ways to elevate our summer dinners is with this vegan fruit pizza.

This dessert is a sweet sugar cookie crust filled with velvety smooth cream cheese filling and glazed fresh fruit. It’s light, refreshing, and delicious and it will bring joy to your backyard picnics, dinners, and bonfires this summer.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Fruit pizza is a decadent spring and summertime dessert that combines a sugar cookie crust, sweet cream cheese filling, and a beautifully glazed fruit topping.

Here is everything you need.

• Daiya Cream Cheeze Style Spread
• Vegan Butter – Look for non-hydrogenated, high-quality non-dairy/vegan butter.
• Granulated Sugar – Check out my guide to vegan sugars and alternative sugar replacements.
• Non-Dairy Milk – I recommend soy, cashew, or macadamia. Anything that is thick, rich, and relatively flavorless works.
• All-Purpose Flour – Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend here if you are looking for a gluten-free dessert.
• Baking Powder & Baking Soda
• Salt
• Vanilla Extract
• Coconut Milk – This recipe calls for the fatty solids on the top, only. Most coconut milk comes separated but not all. To ensure your coconut milk separates, place it in the fridge, unopened, 24 hours before using it. This will cause the coconut milk to separate so you can scoop out the cream and leave the coconut water.
• Fresh Fruit – Use a mixture of strawberries, kiwi, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, mango, and/or mandarin oranges.
• Simple Syrup – This is to glaze your tart. You can also use the juice from a can of mandarin oranges or apricot glaze

Best Cream Cheese Alternative

The secret to this dessert is the sweet cream cheese filling. And so it’s important to use the very best vegan cream cheese on the market.

Enter: Daiya!

If you’ve been a plant-based eater for a while, then I’m sure you’re familiar with Daiya’s products. When they came on the market about 10 years ago, their products were revolutionary. In the past decade, Daiya has become an industry leader committed to delighting your senses with its line of delicious, better-for-you foods and they remain passionate about celebrating delicious food that is dairy, gluten, and soy-free.

One of the things I love most about Daiya is that they continue to improve their products. Most recently they’ve relaunched their new and improved Cream Cheeze Style Spreads. And friends, they are good! They are silky smooth, rich, creamy, and perfect not only for this fruit pizza but for all sweet and savory recipes alike.

Daiya offers these spreads in Plain, Strawberry, Chive & Onion, and Garden Vegetable. While I used Plain for this recipe, Strawberry would have been a great alternative.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step One: Make the Sugar Cookie Crust

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a stand-up mixer, beat together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides as needed. Add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until a uniform dough forms.

Spread the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pizza pan. Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork and bake the crust for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the cookie is baked in the middle. Remove from the oven and place in the refrigerator or freezer to chill.

Step Two – Make the Cream Cheese Filling

To make the filling, scoop out the solids from the coconut milk (top 1/2 of the can) into a medium-sized bowl. Add Cream Cheeze Style Spread, sugar, and vanilla and blend with a hand mixer until completely smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Once the cookie has chilled, topped it with the cream cheese filling, spreading it even with an offset spatula. Return the pizza to the refrigerator to let the filling set up while you prepare the fruit.

Serving and Storing

Serving – Serve the fruit pizza the same day you put it together. Keep it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Storing – Store leftovers pizza in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Summertime Desserts

• Classic Cherry Cobbler
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream
• Blackberry Bourbon Crisp

Vegan Fruit Pizza

Vegan Fruit Pizza! It is made with a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie crust, topped with sweet cream cheese filling, and finished with fresh fruit for the perfect summertime dessert.

5 from 4 votes

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 12 people

Calories: 436kcal

Author: Sarah McMinn

Ingredients

Sugar Cookie Crust

• 1 cup vegan butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 tbsp. non-dairy milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 ounces Daiya Plain Cream Cheeze Style Spread
• 1 can full-fat coconut milk, solids skimmed off
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Fruit Topping

• 7-8 large strawberries, sliced
• 4 kiwi, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup grapes, halved
• 1/4 cup raspberries
• 1-2 tbsp. simple syrup

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 14" pizza pan with cooking spray and set aside.
• Start by making the crust. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a stand-up mixer, beat together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping the sides as needed. Add the non-dairy milk and vanilla extract, mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until a uniform dough forms.

  Spread the cookie dough evenly into the prepared pizza pan. Poke a few holes in the crust with a fork and bake the crust for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the cookie is baked in the middle. Remove from the oven and place in the refrigerator or freezer to chill.
• Make the Cream Cheese Filling. To make the filling, scoop out the solids from the coconut milk (top 1/2 of the can) into a medium-sized bowl. Add vegan cream cheeze style spread, sugar, and vanilla and blend with a hand mixer until completely smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Assemble the Pizza. Once the cookie has chilled, topped it with the cream cheeze filling, spreading it even with an offset spatula. Return the pizza to the refrigerator to let the filling set up while you prepare the fruit.

  Slice the strawberries and kiwi. Cut the grapes in half. Top the chilled pizza with fresh berries, decorating them in concentric circles. Brush simple syrup over the berries to give them a shine.
• Serve immediately or return to refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes

Serving and Storing – Serve the fruit pizza the same day you put it together. Keep it in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Store leftovers pizza in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Make in Advance –  You can make the cookie dough crust and cream cheese filling up to two days early. The filling should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The cookie crust should be covered and stored at room temperature. When ready to eat, assemble and serve!

Recipe Tips

1. Use high-quality non-dairy butter. You want your butter to have a natural buttery taste with a similarly low melting point to dairy butter.  
2. Chill your crust. Make sure to chill your crust for at least 30 minutes before adding the cream cheese filling. Otherwise, the filling will start to melt.
3. Do not overbake. Once the edges of your cookie crust have just begun browning pull them out. The cookie will continue to harden as it cools.

Nutrition

Calories: 436kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Sodium: 312mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 26g | Vitamin A: 760IU | Vitamin C: 39mg | Calcium: 58mg | Iron: 3mg

Daiya’s selection of plant-based foods can be found in more than 25,000 grocery stores in the U.S., including Sprouts, Kroger, Safeway, and Publix, as well as most natural food retailers. Make sure to try out the new Cream Cheeze Style Spread and all their products by picking some up at a store near you.