Patriotic Plaid Pizza Pastry

In case you haven't heard, Hot Tub Lizzy is running for president.  I will say right here that there is rarely a candidate that I can vote for wholeheartedly because I think they will represent my viewpoints.  But Lizzy has a down-to-earth, no-nonsense, non-partisan approach that actually represents me amazingly well.  You can check out her platform for yourself.  (And yes, I find it mildly unsettling that her message is published on the left side of her blog, but I don't let it bother me.  Much.)

One thing that I SO resonate with is Lizzy's effort to bring people together around something we can all agree on: food!  So she is having a recipe contest, and since she is neither red nor blue, but plaid, I decided to submit a recipe in Patriotic Plaid--our stars and stripes, of course! And when I win, I will get an awesome sweatshirt with Lizzy's fuzzy duck logo on it, and be the envy of all!

So with no further ado, here it is:

Patriotic Plaid Pizza Pastry

Base:

1 tube refrigerated sugar cookie dough

A variety of fruits and berries (In this case, red white and blue--strawberries, raspberries, bananas and blueberries--but a lovely variety of plaids can be made by using any of your favorites!)

Icing:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

8 oz. container of whipped cream (e.g. Cool Whip)

Glaze:

1/2 cup sugar

1 T. corn starch

1/2 cup orange juice

2 T. lemon juice

1/4 cup water

dash salt

Crust:  Allow dough to soften at room temperature, and press cookie dough out on large cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake as directed on package until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.

Icing:  Mix cream cheese with whipped cream and spread over cooled cookie crust.

Fruit:  Cut and arrange in flag or other plaid design on top of icing, making sure fruit is well blotted beforehand so it doesn't get soupy. (In case you're not so much into plaid, you can also use a round pizza pan and arrange a variety of colors in a circle.)

Glaze:  Combine sugar, corn starch, and salt in a pan. Stir in orange juice, lemon juice and water; boil 1 minute, remove from heat and let cool. Drizzle glaze over pizza and refrigerate overnight.

Scrumptious!