Level up your festive snacks with these super cute, super easy puff pastry Christmas trees. Just sandwich basil pesto and grated cheese between puff pastry, fold into trees and bake until golden and crispy. Less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
There’s not much that beats crispy pastry, herby pesto and gooey cheese in my mind. I’ve seen these cute little appetizers made with Nutella a lot, but as a savoury girl through and through, these cheesy pesto versions are much more up my alley. Plus, the green makes them look lovely and festive.
They’re incredibly easy to make, and great ones to get the kids involved with too. I love to cut out little pastry stars to top them with, but you could cut out cheese stars instead, and then top them after the trees come out of the oven. I picked up a set of festive cookie cutters from Amazon, which are fab and I use them all the time (also to cut out stars for this Christmas charcuterie wreath, and to top Christmas fruit mince pies).
Ingredients
- Puff pastry. If you can find it, go for an all-butter puff pastry for the best flavour.
- Basil pesto. Make your own if you can, it’s super easy and the flavour is SO much better. Otherwise, use your favourite store-bought pesto – I prefer the fresh ones, rather than the shelf-stable ones. You could use sundried tomato pesto, caramelized onions, fig jam, sweet chilli jam or zhoug sauce instead if you prefer.
- Cheese. I’m using grated mozzarella (pre-grated is fine) and parmesan here, for maximum stretch and flavour. Mix this up if you like, cheddar, gruyere, blue cheese or manchego are great too.
I like to drizzle them with hot honey sauce or sweet chilli when they come out of the oven, along with a little sprinkling of red pepper flakes for a little more colour, but that’s optional.
How to make them
Spread a sheet of puff pastry with your pesto, making sure it’s as evenly spread and as close to the edges as possible. Scatter the mozzarella and parmesan all over the pesto, then lay another sheet of puff pastry on top. Use a sharp knife or a pizza cutter to slice your pastry into thin strips (about 1″/2.5cm wide). Leave a 2-inch strip at the end, so you can cut out little puff pastry stars to top your trees with.
Fold each strip of layered pastry over itself four times, to create a triangle tree shape. Pierce the tree with a skewer, then top with a pastry star. Arrange on a lined oven tray, brush with egg wash, and then bake for 15 minutes, until golden and crispy. I like finishing them with a drizzle of hot honey sauce and a few red pepper flakes.
Got a question?
You can assemble and skewer the trees a day ahead of time if you like – just cover the tray with clingfilm and pop them into the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
Swap basil pesto for sundried tomato pesto, fig chutney, caramelized onions, sweet chilli jam or zhoug sauce.
Like this recipe? Here are more fun Christmas appetizer ideas
If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.
Print
Pesto Puff Pastry Christmas Trees
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 trees 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Level up your festive snacks with these super cute, super easy puff pastry Christmas trees. Just sandwich basil pesto and grated cheese between puff pastry, fold into trees and bake until golden and crispy. Less than 30 minutes from start to finish.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of puff pastry
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg, whisked (for the egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon hot honey sauce
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Spread pastry with pesto and cheese. Heat your oven to 360F/180C and line an oven tray with baking paper. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on a clean, flat surface. I like to roll it out on the parchment paper it tends to come rolled in, for ease. Spread the basil pesto all over the pastry, getting as close to the edges as you can. Scatter the mozzarella and parmesan evenly over the pesto.
- Slice into strips. Place the second sheet of puff pastry on top of the pesto and cheese-topped sheet, and press down with your hands to seal it in place. You can use a rolling pin to gently flatten it too if you like. Use a sharp knife, or a pizza cutter, to cut 1″/2.5cm strips down the long side of the pastry rectangle (so you end up with more short strips, rather than long ones). Leave a 2″/5cm strip at one end, so that you can cut out pastry star toppers for your trees.
- Fold the Christmas trees. Pick up a strip of layered pastry, and carefully fold it over itself four times, to form a rough triangle shape. Press a skewer through the pastry tree and place on the lined oven tray. Repeat with the rest of the strips, then use a mini star cutter to cut out little star toppers for the trees. Skewer the stars onto the tops of the pastry trees, and set them on the tray.
- Bake the trees. Brush the trees with egg wash, then transfer them to the oven for 15 minutes, or until they’re looking super golden and crispy. Remove from the oven, then drizzle with the hot honey and scatter with the red pepper flakes if you’re using them. Serve while hot and crispy.
Notes
PREP AHEAD: Assemble the Christmas trees the day before you want to bake them if you like, then cover the oven tray with clingfilm and pop into the fridge until you’re ready.
INGREDIENT NOTES: Swap the basil pesto for sundried tomato pesto, wild garlic pesto, fig jam, sweet chilli jam, caramelized onions or zhoug sauce. Play around with your cheeses – try to mix something mild and melty (like mozzarella) with something strong (like parmesan). Blue cheese is great, as is gruyere.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 15
- Category: snacks
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 tree
- Calories: 144
- Sugar: 0.1g
- Sodium: 135mg
- Fat: 11.8g
- Saturated Fat: 2.9g
- Carbohydrates: 8.4g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 6.1g
- Cholesterol: 29mg
Keywords: puff pastry christmas trees
0 Comments