9.21.2015

This week’s recipe is all about sweet, refreshing fruits. A while ago I saw a recipe on a Pillsbury Gluten-Free Funfetti cookie box that I have been dying to try. Essentially, it’s a gluten-free fruit pizza, cookie, cake, pie thing. I’m not 100% sure on its category or description, but I would place it as a dessert or an appetizer. Unfortunately, the original recipe calls for some dairy products so I improvised and spontaneously substituted the items for products already in my pantry hoping for somewhat similar result.

As my favorite grocery store was out of the gluten-free funfetti mix, I decided to try something new and picked up the Betty Crocker gluten-free sugar cookie mix. My other ingredients included eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, orange marmalade, marshmallow creme, kiwi, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

Following the instructions on the cookie mix, I made the sugar cookies. Substituting vegetable oil for butter resulted in a slightly separated and chunky batter.

I pressed about 3/4 of the dough into a glass pie round and let it bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes until the crust was golden and fluffy.

For the first layer, I had a rather difficult time spreading the marshmallow creme. The sticky glob mess was not very neat, but taste is more important anyway, right? I covered the marshmallow creme layer with a second layer of smooth orange marmalade, which covered up the previous mess and looked delicious. My favorite part about the Smucker’s orange marmalade is the thin strips of orange peel that really enhance the presentation and flavor.

After the fruit was sliced to my liking and without any knife injuries, I began arranging the fruit starting with the outside of the crust. I tried to exaggerate my small amount of creativity with a mixture of patterns, colors, and shapes.

Moving toward the center, I began adding larger fruits including kiwi for diverse color and visual appeal.

For the finishing touches I crammed as much fruit as I could into the center. The more the merrier!

Making this fruit pie, pizza, cookie, cake was actually really fun. Arranging the fruit was like a putting together a delicious, beautiful, and more importantly, edible puzzle. In case you were wondering about how my concoction tasted, I have good news. I actually brought one of the pies (the other was kept only for myself) to a birthday party with some of my co-workers. From what I heard, the pie/pizza turned out great and I bet no one could even tell it was gluten and dairy-free (well at least until they read this)!

Now it’s time to enjoy some fresh dessert with my favorite furry friends! For some added cuteness here are my foster kittens Mufasa, Timon, Simba, and Nala!

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