A Healthy Birthday Cake Alternative

Hubs and I made this delicious fruit pizza for I.D. on his birthday.  It was finger-lickin' good.  I got the recipe here.  I've included it below for your convenience.  We replaced the peach and pineapple with cantaloupe.  This recipe was fast, easy, and healthy.  Who could ask for more?

Ingredients, Cookie Crust:
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Ingredients, Cheese Spread:
8 ounces cream cheese (nonfat or light)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 drop of red food color - optional)

Fruit topping:
Can be a variety of slices or small pieces of such fruits as strawberries, kiwis, bananas, pineapple, mandarin oranges, pears, peaches, blueberries or grapes.

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. For the crust, in a bowl, cream margarine, sugar, vanilla and egg until light and fluffy. Add flour and baking powder, mixing well.
3. Spread mixture about 1/8-inch thick on pizza pan, baking sheet or 9 X 13 inch pan. (Or, for individual fruit pizzas, divide the dough into 12 balls and pat out into circles.)
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool.
5. Mix together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Spread on cooled cookie crust.
6. Arrange fruit on top of pizza. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.

Safety tip:
Young children may need help in using an electric mixer. They also should learn to turn the mixer off before using a rubber scraper to clean the sides of the bowl. If children are not tall enough to reach the countertop, they'll need adult supervision as they stand on a stable stool. (No teetering on a chair or bar stool!)

Teaching point:
This cookie dough crust is a simple sugar cookie recipe, and making it is much less expensive than buying tubes of cookie dough in the dairy section at the grocery store!
Per serving: 260 calories, 9 grams of fat (1.5 gram saturated), 20 mg cholesterol, 6 grams protein, 40 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram dietary fiber, 280 milligrams sodium.

---

About this article: Kids a Cookin' is an educational program produced by Kansas State University Research and Extension's Family Nutrition Program. For more information, more recipes and cooking tips, and a link to a Spanish version, check the Kids a Cookin' Web site at kidsacookin.ksu.edu. This article appeared on ChefMom.com, a web site offering recipes, menu planning ideas, food tips and more for the family chef! ChefMom is part of the SheKnows network of websites. Some popular recipe categories: Slow cooker and Quick dishes.

© Copyright 2003-11 SheKnows, LLC and/or individual copyright holders. All Rights Reserved.