How to make a puff pastry Christmas tree {with homemade pesto}

A savory yet creamy pesto with a delicious cheese flavor, wrapped in flaky, buttery puff pastry. This puff pastry Christmas tree with homemade pesto is a delicious snack at your Christmas cocktail party, to serve with soup or as a starter. And really easy to prepare. This is going to be a super relaxed Christmas for sure.

The advantage of being a food blogger is that you make recipes several times (to get them foolproof) and in advance of the Holidays. Like this appetizer recipe which I'm going to serve for Christmas. When eating, the family asked for a second portion, so I'm sure that it's going to be a WINNER around here.

I've adapted this Christmas tree recipe from Anja's foodblog (Dutch foodblog). At the foodblogswap it was assigned to me. The idea of the swap is to choose a recipe from another food blogger and give it your own twist. And after some snoozing around I chose this recipe.

Jump to:

• Why choose this easy Christmas appetizer?
• Ingredients you need to make this fast Christmas snack!
• How do you make these savory puff pastry Christmas tree with homemade red pesto?
• Substitutes and flavors
• Preparation and storage
• 📖 Recipe

Why choose this easy Christmas appetizer?

• It only needs 8 ingredients and if you want to make it very easy, substitute the first 6 ingredients for... red tomato tapenade or green pesto. These can be bought ready made in the supermarket. And that way you only need 3 ingredients!
• Within half an hour this great appetizer can be served.
• It's made without yeast and egg.
• A very budget-friendly recipe.
• This puff pastry Christmas tree looks Superb on your Christmas table, cocktail party (or whenever you want to serve it).
• You can prepare it in advance, cover it and store in the refrigerator. But you can also choose to only make the pesto in advance. Preparing the tree will only take you a couple of minutes.

Ingredients you need to make this fast Christmas snack!

These are the ingredients needed for this Christmas puff pastry tree with pesto.

1. Sundried tomatoes: if you can find use semi sun dried tomatoes, because they've got even more flavor. But normal sun-dried tomatoes are also a good alternative.
2. Garlic, thyme, walnuts and olive oil: giving flavor to your pesto.
3. Parmesan cheese: if you can get it use the real deal. But you can also opt for an old cheese.
4. Puff pastry roll: the most easy way is to get your puff pastry on a roll. But if you only can lay your hand on sheets, use them and make a square with them. Press the sides to stick them. Then roll with a rolling pin, to flatten them evenly.
5. Milk: use the milk to make your Christmas tree shine. You can also use an egg yolk which you whisk with 1 tablespoon water.

How do you make these savory puff pastry Christmas tree with homemade red pesto?

A recipe with easy steps, which is printable, can be found on the bottom of this blogpost.

Step 1: Prepare the red pesto: Put the sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, dried thyme, Parmesan cheese, garlic and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a blender. Pulse until you've got a smooth pesto.

Step 2: Cut your puff pastry into two squares. With a sharp knife cut out a Christmas tree on both sheets. Smear one sheet with the red pesto.

Step 3: Put the second sheet puff pastry on top of the first one. Put everything on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. With a sharp knife cut the "Christmas tree branches". Make sure you don't slice the middle (keep 1 inch cut free)

Step 4: Roll every "Christmas tree branch" between two fingers to get a nice pesto pattern. Brush the entire tree with milk. Place the baking tray in the preheated oven (390 degrees Fahrenheit) and bake for 20 minutes.

Substitutes and flavors

If you want to vary these are some delicious substitutes

• For the pesto you can substitute the sun-dried tomatoes by smoked red peppers, basil or spinach.
• Parmesan cheese can be substituted for Old cheese.
• Walnuts can be exchanged for cashew nuts or pine nuts.
• Brush the puff pastry with egg yolk instead of milk.
• Sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the puff pastry Christmas tree for a nice effect.

• Use a roll of puff pastry instead of sheets. This makes the recipe even easier.
• If you don't have a blender, use an immersion blender or mortar and pestle.
• Don't cut the "Christmas branches" through and through but make sure you leave a cut-free 1 inch middle.
• Brush the Christmas tree with milk or egg yolk to let it shine.
• Do you have left over pesto? You can serve it with toast or a baguette.
• Left over puff pastry can be used in this delicious Cheese bread sticks.

Preparation and storage

• This Christmas tree can be made in the morning and, covered with some plastic foil, stored in the refrigerator.
• You can make the pesto 2 days in advance and store in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it up to 3 months in an airtight container.
• You can also freeze these puff pastry appetizers. Wrap it airtight before freezing. This way you can store it for 2 months. Heat for a few minutes in the oven at 420 degrees Fahrenheit (225 degrees Celsius) to get it crunchy again. You can't freeze puff pastry which isn't baked.

Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!

📖 Recipe