Level up your festive snacks with these super cute, super easy pesto puff pastry Christmas trees. Just sandwich fresh 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!
These cute little appetizers are made with Nutella a lot, but as a savory girl through and through, these cheesy pesto versions are much more up my alley. Plus, the pop of green makes them lovely and festive.
I love to cut out little pastry stars from the offcuts 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 fabulous and I use them all the time (also to cut out stars for this Christmas charcuterie wreath, chili-cheese shortbread star cookies, and to top Christmas fruit mince pies).
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love These Puff Pastry Christmas Tree
- Ingredients You’ll Need
- Step-by-Step: How to Make Pesto Puff Pastry Christmas Trees
- Watch How to Make the Trees
- Kate’s Top Puff Pastry Tips
- Puff Pastry Christmas Trees FAQs
- Like this recipe? Here are more fun Christmas appetizer ideas
- Pesto Puff Pastry Christmas Trees Recipe
Why You’ll Love These Puff Pastry Christmas Tree
- You only need FIVE simple ingredients.
- Ridiculously easy but look like party showstoppers.
- Kid friendly to make – twisting the little pastry trees is a fun family activity.
- Brilliant for holiday entertaining. Super cute on festive grazing boards – these are serious crowd-pleasers.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Puff pastry. If you can find it, go for an all-butter puff pastry for the best flavor.
- Fresh basil pesto. Make your own if you can – it’s super easy, and the flavor 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 chili jam or zhoug sauce instead if you prefer.
- Cheese. I’m using shredded mozzarella (pre-shredded is fine) and parmesan here, for maximum stretch and flavor. 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 chili jam when they come out of the oven, along with a little sprinkling of red pepper flakes for more color, but that’s optional.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Pesto Puff Pastry Christmas Trees
This is a step-by-step photo overview of how to make the Christmas trees – the full recipe with ingredient quantities and instructions is at the bottom of the page for you.
- 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, again going as close to the edges as possible.
- Lay another sheet of puff pastry on top, gently pressing down to help it stick to the pesto and cheese mixture.
- 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.
Watch How to Make the Trees
Kate’s Top Puff Pastry Tips
- Keep your pastry COLD: If you feel it warming up quite a lot as you’re working with it, pop it into the fridge for 10 minutes before continuing. This helps it become lovely and flaky in the oven.
- Don’t overfill your trees. Keep your pesto and cheese layer thin and even – too much means you’ll end up with soggy, undercooked trees.
- Preheat your oven. Cold puff pastry hitting a hot oven gives you those lovely flaky layers you want here. Making sure yours is hot enough before baking is key.
Puff Pastry Christmas Trees FAQs
You can assemble and skewer the trees 24 hours ahead of time if you like – just cover the tray with clingfilm and pop them into the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
You can also freeze the unbaked trees on a tray until solid, then pop them into ziplock bags to store. You can bake them straight from frozen (just add 5 minutes onto the cooking time).
Swap basil pesto for sundried tomato pesto, fig chutney, caramelized onions, sweet chilli jam or zhoug sauce. You could also go sweet, and use Nutella if you prefer.
The oven or the air fryer is best – the microwave will make them go soggy. Pop into the oven or air fryer at 350°F (180°C) for about 5 minutes (slightly less in the air fryer).
I love them with a drizzle of hot honey sauce or sweet chili jam, but you could serve them with a dipping sauce – try egg-free garlic aioli, spicy gochujang aioli, whipped cottage cheese dip, or pesto whipped feta.
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 a recipe rating and a comment below. And remember to tag @DishedByKate on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok if you’ve made one of my recipes. Seeing your recreations really makes my day 😊.
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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 ready-rolled puff pastry
- 1/2 cup fresh 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 the pastry with pesto and cheese. Heat your oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out a sheet of puff pastry on a clean, flat surface. I like to roll it out on the 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 it 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. PRO TIP: If your kitchen is hot, or you feel the pastry getting warm as you’re working with it, pop the trees into the fridge for about 10 minutes before you bake them. This will help them keep their shape in the oven.
- Bake the trees. Brush the trees with egg wash, then transfer them to the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until they look 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. You can also freeze the unbaked trees – just freeze on a tray until solid, then pop into ziplock bags to store. Bake them straight from frozen (add an extra five minutes to the cooking time).
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The baked trees will keep for up to 3 days, stored in an airtight container. You can crisp them up again in the oven or air fryer at 350°F (180°C) for four to five minutes. Microwave them if you want, but they’ll go soggy this way.
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.
PASTRY DIDN’T PUFF UP? Your pastry may have warmed up too much – remember to monitor if it’s getting a bit warm as you work with it. For peace of mind, pop the trees into the fridge for 10 minutes before baking them.
SOGGY BOTTOMED PASTRY? Either you spread your filling too thickly, or your pesto was quite liquidy.
TREES UNRAVELED? Make your tree folds a little tighter – you’ll be surprised how much they’ll puff up in the oven – or pop the trees into the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
FILLING LEAKED OUT? You can press the cheese and pesto back into the pastry strips once you’ve formed the trees – a little may naturally come out in the oven, though. You can also press the pastry strips together to seal the edges if you prefer.
- 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
Could these be reheated the next day? i won’t be able to bake them the day off so i was wondering if they could sit finished in the fridge then pop in the microwave the next day? or would they be good eaten cold?
They’re totally fine eaten cold! You can microwave them too, but you’ll lose the crispiness of the pastry x
Do I need to refrigerate after cooking these? I made them a day ahead. Thanks.
They’ll be fine at room temperature x