Tropical Pizza

How cute is this! I helped a friend gather fun decorations for a baby girl diaper shower this weekend and she made this Diaper cake she found from Pinterest (follow me here)! 70 rolled newborn diapers, rubber bands, ribbon, and a few rubber duckies later she whipped this up – it really was easy and what a cute display and gift!

Of course, we had food and I served one of my very favorites (and was everyone else’s  too), Pina Coloda Brie.  We also made a few easy, yummy desserts for guests to dig into, like Cookies and Cream Cheese Cupcakes from trim&TERRIFIC KITCHEN 101: Secrets to Cooking Confidence, and the delicious and beautiful Tropical Fruit Pizza. Need ideas or inspiration for your next party or get-together? These really are  SO good and SO easy to make – you can do it – Enjoy!

Diaper Cake

Tropical Fruit Pizza 

Every time I make this tropical decadence, everyone wants the recipe. Easy and picture- perfect, it’s a great way to enjoy fruit, especially when the fruit is in season. Be creative and substitute your favorite fruits.

Makes 12 servings

1 (18-ounce) roll refrigerated ready-to-slice sugar cookie dough

1/3 cup sugar

1 (8-ounce) package reduced-free cream cheese

1 teaspoon coconut extract

11/2 teaspoons grated orange rind

1 cup fat-free frozen whipped topping, thawed

1 (26-ounce) jar mango slices, drained, or 1 fresh mango, sliced

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, drained, or 1 fresh pineapple, sliced

1 (15-ounce) can mandarin orange segments, drained

1/4 cup apricot preserves

1 tablespoon orange liqueur or orange juice

2 tablespoons coconut, toasted, optional

1. Preheat oven 350ºF.

2. Press cookie dough into a 12-14-in pizza pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake 12 minutes, cool completely.

3. In medium mixing bowl, blend together sugar, cream cheese, coconut extract until well mixed. Stir in orange rind and whipped topping, mixing until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture on top of cooled crust.

4. Arrange mango slices around edge of iced pizza. Then, arrange roll of pineapple slices around edge. Next, arrange mandarin orange slices in another ring to fill center of pizza.

5. In small saucepan or in microwave, heat apricot preserves and orange liqueur just until melted. Spoon glaze over fruit. Sprinkle with toasted coconut, if desired. Refrigerate until serving.

Nutritional information per serving

Calories 269, Protein (g) 4, Carbohydrate (g) 48, Fat (g) 6, Calories from Fat (%) 21, Saturated Fat (g) 2, Dietary Fiber (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 5, Sodium (mg) 253 Diabetic Exchanges: 1 fruit, 2 other carbohydrate, 1 fat

Terrific Tidbit: Go ahead and grate more orange rind than you’ll need for the recipe—you can grate a whole orange or lemon and freeze the rind until needed.