Dessert Cookie Pizza Recipe

Cookie pizza is the ultimate dessert, especially for kids. It’s been a closely-guarded family favorite since the mid ’90s.

When we were kids, my mom used to try really hard to get my sister and me to learn how to cook. But we just wanted to make desserts. Namely cookie pizza.

My mom did all the cooking in our home. We didn’t fully appreciate her skill at the time — what else did we know? But having run her own catering company for a stint, my mom was adept at making a wide range of things. (She still is, but having spent decades tirelessly cooking for others, she’s less inclined to make elaborate meals on the regular, not to mention it’s been quite some time since my sister and I left home.)

For a while, she tried to entice her kids to learn more about cooking by letting us pick the recipe we’d make together. Probably in a bid to keep us from slowing down actual dinner prep or maybe because that didn’t appeal to us, these dishes always ended up being something extra, different, or “exciting.” And for me in particular, exciting meant dessert.

On alternating Wednesdays, we’d flip through a cookbook and pick something out to make together. I remember very little of what we actually chose, though I do remember being particularly proud of a batch of chocolate-laden brownies.

But only one recipe emerged from that era of our lives to become a family staple: cookie pizza.

The Perfect Dessert — Especially for Kids

Marketed as a recipe for “Dessert Pizza In Minutes,” the 1996 recipe comes from Cool Whip and offers a way to use their product. But to us, it was just “cookie pizza.” Ask any of my childhood friends about it and they’ll immediately know what you’re talking about.

And what they’ll tell you is that I kept it from them.

The thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t make very much. Cookie pizza quickly became a preferred birthday and special occasion dessert in our home (despite it being absurdly easy to make and not requiring the labor-intensive effort of my mom’s iconic dark chocolate cake).

Even if I had dibs as the birthday boy, I had to fight off the rest of my family so I could enjoy as much of it as possible. Especially my dad. So you better believe I wasn’t about to let any of my friends who’d come over to hang out know there was any lurking in the fridge!

Yes, I absolutely tucked it away and hid it behind other things when I knew friends were coming over. Do you remember being nine? (The age I turned the year this recipe dropped) When you’d go over to your friend’s house and — with all the entitlement in the world — open their fridge to search for a snack?

It certainly wasn’t just me who did this, and I remember more than once telling a friend they weren’t allowed to have any when they stumbled on some. Especially someone I wasn’t as close with, as I tried to quickly change the subject and suggest an alternative.

Somehow, I’m still on speaking terms with these childhood friends. But you’ll detect the bitterness in their voice when cookie pizza is mentioned. Yes, more than 20 years later.

It’s understandable, honestly. Cookie pizza is an excellent dessert for any age, pairing fruit with a chocolate chip cookie that’s almost an inch thick and relying on a layer of fluffy Cool Whip. But it’s particularly appealing to kids — a pizza that’s actually a cookie?! Biting into it feels like getting away with a crime. It’s an inherently mischievous dessert.

Adapting and Personalizing Cookie Pizza

The original recipe calls for any flavor of cookie dough. I’m a purist who only uses chocolate chip, but technically that’s accurate. Similarly, it offers the option of using “assorted candies or chopped candy bars” in lieu of fruit and “drizzle with dessert topping, if desired.” Again, technically true, but also something I wholeheartedly reject.

To my sentimental palate, cookie pizza should only be made with chocolate chip cookie dough, name-brand Cool Whip, and fresh fruit. Specifically, I use strawberries, bananas, blueberries, and raspberries on mine (as you’ll see in the recipe below). Blackberries and peaches have also been frequent additions in my family. I’m open to kiwi too, and appreciate that it offers some added visual interest.

While the original recipe also suggests “halved grapes, drained canned peach slices or crushed pineapple,” I really don’t see the value these bring to the dish. But you do you!

You can also totally use thawed frozen fruit. One of those mixed berry bags is often perfect, though I still supplement one or two more fruits for variety.

Instead of relying on exact measurements for the amount of fruit you need, I always eyeball it. I often cut the banana slices directly over the cookie pizza and place them on, adding each type of fruit one at a time until the entire dessert looks well covered. I don’t leave much white space of Cool Whip peeking through — my version is heavily loaded!

You will need at least 20 ounces of cookie dough. If you are using store-bought dough, you may not find a package with the exact right amount. Some are available in 12-oz. packaging, and two together would be about perfect. Otherwise, I’d recommend buying a jumbo-size, 30-oz. roll and either using the extra to make cookies or using a larger pizza pan for even more cookie pizza!

Whether you make it yourself or buy it from the store, you should refrigerate your cookie dough first for best results.

The original recipe calls for 3 cups of Cool Whip, which amounts to 24 ounces. Not only is this overkill — after all, they were trying to move units with this recipe — but it’s also an awkward amount, as the product is sold in 16 or 32-oz. containers. You can get by just fine with 16 ounces, but if you want a fluffier layer of topping, buy the larger one and spread until you’re content!