These healthy patriotic mini fruit pizzas are perfect for an independence day celebration or a labor day barbeque. They look amazing and taste even better. They guilt free and are made without dairy, gluten or refined sugars.
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Fruit Pizzas
I love fruit pizzas! They’re so yummy and classy. In fact, we served fruit pizzas at our wedding reception.
We go to a potluck 4th of July barbeque every year and this year, I want to bring a healthier treat to share and fruit pizzas came to mind.
There are several people in my family who cannot have gluten or dairy and several more who are avoiding sugar. This recipe is great, because it accommodates for so many dietary needs.
Making individual mini pizzas makes it an easy treat to share at potluck or a fun activity for kids to decorate their own.
The blueberries and strawberries with the white frosting are such a fun way to make them patriotic.
The vegan frosting is a made from cashews and dairy free yogurt to replicate a delicious cream cheese frosting.
What goes in these healthy patriotic fruit pizzas?
I really wanted the cookies to have a sugar cookie vibe with a hint of almond. In my recipe development, I tried a lot of different ratios and found that these work best with a mix of almond flour and a gluten free flour blend. For the cookies you’ll nee:
- Coconut oil – I like the flavor of virgin unrefined coconut oil that I get at Costco, but if that’s not your thing, you can use a good quality refined coconut oil that does not have a strong coconut flavor. I’ve really loved the Nutiva brand because it is organic and steam refined. I order it directly from amazon.
- Pure Maple Syrup – I tried this recipe with coconut sugar and it came out way to crumbly. I’ve always found that coconut sugar absorbs more moisture than regular sugar and this recipe needs the extra moisture from the maple syrup.
- Egg – you can always try replacing the egg with a flax egg, but I haven’t tried it in this recipe.
- Almond flour – I tried to make this recipe paleo by only using almond flour, but the cookies ended up being more like yummy almond cookies and less like a sugar cookie.
- Gluten Free Flour Blend – I love to use a gluten free blend, because it tends to work much better than any one single grain or nut flour. If your blend does not have xanthan gum, be sure to add about a teaspoon. My current favorite gluten free flour is the Krusteaz brand because it is made with mostly whole grains.
- Dairy Free Yogurt – My favorite sugar cookie recipe calls for sour cream. For this recipe, I used a coconut based dairy free yogurt that was vanilla flavored. So Delicious and Silk both make good dairy free alternative yogurts. I plan to start making homemade dairy free yogurt, but I haven’t gotten there yet. You might also try using canned coconut cream instead.
- Vanilla and Almond Extract – If you don’t like the flavor of almond extract, feel free to leave it out. If you love it, you can add a little extra.
- Salt, Baking Soda, Cream of Tartar – These all help with the structure and flavor of the cookies.
For the frosting you’ll need:
- Cashews – Soaking the cashews overnight will help them create a creamy dairy free frosting that resembles a cream cheese frosting.
- Coconut Yogurt – I used the same vanilla coconut yogurt in the cookies as I did in the frosting. You could also use canned coconut cream.
- Lemon Juice – This really helps balance out the cashews and gives the frosting a bit of a tangy flavor.
- Pure Maple Syrup – The maple syrup adds a really nice sweetness and depth to the frosting.
- Coconut Oil – For the frosting, I used steam refined coconut oil so that it didn’t have a strong coconut flavor. The coconut oil is important because it will help the frosting firm up as it cools.
- Vanilla Extract – Very important. Don’t use the fake stuff.
- Banana – I added half of a banana to the frosting to add to the sweetness and to provide more depth of flavor. I think it goes really well with the fruit for the fruit pizzas.
For the fruit decorations you can use any red, white and blue fruits you want:
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Bananas
How to make patriotic mini fruit pizzas
- Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease a baking tray.
- Combine soft coconut oil, pure maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, and yogurt in a bowl and whisk well until combined. Add in the almond flour, gluten free flour blend, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and stir until a soft dough forms.
- Scoop dough into twelve even balls onto a baking tray. Grease the bottom of a cup or a measuring cup and press dough ball to about 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 350° for 7-8 minutes. The cookies should be barely done. Allow to cool.
- For the frosting: Soak cashews for at least 2-3 hours, overnight if possible. Combine cashews, coconut yogurt, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, coconut oil, lemon juice, and banana in a high powered blender or food processor. Blend until creamy. Allow frosting to cool in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours to thicken. Adjust the amount of lemon juice
- Frost cookies and decorate with fruit of choice.
Notes:
- If you don’t like the coconut flavor of the coconut oil, use a flavorless steam refined coconut oil. My favorite one is Nutiva.
- You’ll definitely want to press the dough down before baking. I tried baking these cookies without pressing them down first and they stayed in the same dome shape, which made them hard to decorate. They don’t expand much during baking.
- If you don’t like the flavor of the almond extract, feel free to omit it. I love the nice flavor that it adds, especially with the almond flour.
- As always, if your gluten free flour blend does not already contain xanthan gum, you’ll want to add about a teaspoon. This is the xanthan gum I use.
- Have fun with the decorating! I used small strawberries I picked from the garden. They were about the size of raspberries.
- Store cookies and frosting in the refrigerator. Decorate just before serving.
Have you made this recipe? Let me know in the comments how they turned out!
Healthy Patriotic Mini Fruit Pizzas | GF, DF, RSF
These healthy patriotic mini fruit pizzas are perfect for an independence day celebration or a labor day barbeque. They look amazing and taste even better. They’re a healthier spin on a delicious treat.
Persons
12
Serving Size
1 cookie
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
8 minutes
Total Time
28 minutes
Ingredients
- For the cookies:
- 1/3 cup coconut oil, softened
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/3 cup coconut yogurt
- 3/4 cup almond flour
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour blend
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- For the frosting:
- 1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked
- 1/4 cup coconut yogurt or coconut cream
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 banana
- For the fruit, your choice of:
- strawberries
- blueberries
- blackberries
- raspberries
- bananas
Instructions
- For the cookies: Preheat oven to 350° and lightly grease a baking tray.
- Combine soft coconut oil, pure maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract, almond extract, and yogurt in a bowl and whisk well until combined. Add in the almond flour, gluten free flour blend, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and stir until a soft dough forms.
- Scoop dough into twelve even balls onto a baking tray. Grease the bottom of a cup or a measuring cup and press dough ball to about 1/4 inch thick. Bake at 350° for 7-8 minutes. The cookies should be barely done. Allow to cool.
- For the frosting: Soak cashews for at least 2-3 hours, overnight if possible. Combine cashews, coconut yogurt, pure maple syrup, vanilla extract, coconut oil, lemon juice, and banana in a high powered blender or food processor. Blend until creamy. Allow frosting to cool in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours to thicken.
- Frost cookies and decorate with fruit of choice.
Notes
- If you don’t like the coconut flavor of the coconut oil, use a flavorless steam refined coconut oil. My favorite one is Nutiva.
- You’ll definitely want to press the dough down before baking. I tried baking these cookies without pressing them down first and they stayed in the same dome shape, which made them hard to decorate. They don’t expand much during baking.
- If you don’t like the flavor of the almond extract, feel free to omit it. I love the nice flavor that it adds, especially with the almond flour.
- As always, if your gluten free flour blend does not already contain xanthan gum, you’ll want to add about a teaspoon. This is the xanthan gum I use.
- Have fun with the decorating! I used small strawberries I picked from the garden. They were about the size of raspberries.
- Store cookies and frosting in the refrigerator. Decorate just before serving.
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