Festive 4th of July Fruit Pizza Cookies

Between Memorial Day and the 4th of July, I'm usually feeling pretty patriotic most of the summer.  That means red, white, and blue. Since you can't really make red, white, or blue hot dogs or hamburgers (well, you could have a red hamburger but the thought of undercooked meat makes my stomach turn), that means it's all up to the sides and dessert.  One thing I really like about these cookies (other than how delicious they taste and patriotic they look) is that most of the work can be done ahead of time.  I bake the cookies days in advance.  The frosting only takes minutes to mix up and frosting and topping is pretty quick work.  After many 4th of making fruit salsa (which takes about 4 hours), these are a perfect way to still incorporate fruit but save a lot of time. 

Festive 4th of July fruit pizza cookies
yield: depends on the size of your cookie!  Makes a pretty decent amount.
Cookie
Ingredients
-1 cup (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
-1 cup powdered sugar
-1 egg
-2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-1 vanilla bean, split length-wise
-zest of one lemon (optional)
-2 1/2 cups AP flour
-1 tsp salt


Directions
1) In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until smooth.  Add the egg, vanilla extract, seeds from the vanilla bean, and lemon zest (if using) and beat until smooth.  Mix in the flour and salt on low speed just until incorporated.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled (at least 1-2 hours).

2) When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°.  Roll the dough out on a well-floured surface, to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out shapes and transfer to cookie sheets.  Reroll scraps as needed.  (I usually only take about 1/4 of the dough of the fridge at a time so the rest stays firm until needed.)  Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking, until the cookies are fully cooked but not brown.  Let cool for a few minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack.

Frosting
Ingredients
-4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
-1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions
1) Beat together cream cheese and powdered sugar until smooth.

Topping and Assembly
Ingredients
-baked cookies
-mixed frosting
-about 1 lb strawberries (you probably won't need them all!), washed, hulled, and cut
-about 1 pint blueberries (you probably won't need them all either!), washed
-other fruit as desired

Directions
1) Frost each cookie with the cream cheese mixture.  Top with fruit as desired.


Source: Cookie from Annie's Eats, Frosting & idea from Gold medal Flour