Puff pastry tree stuffed with pesto

For passionate cooks and grateful diners, there is nothing more eagerly awaited at this time of year than having a dish on the table that smells, tastes or transmits Christmas. Traditional stews are welcomed with joy every year, but new, easy and surprising recipes are also expected to delight your guests, and this pesto-filled Christmas tree will achieve the goal.

This is a very simple recipe, which only requires a minimum of patience to give it the pretty tree shape and to have a good pesto ready (you can make it in advance or, if you prefer, buy it ready-made). The pesto for the filling of this tree is basil, but you can use the one you like the most or make several trees with the different pestos that you will find here , along with the basil one.

To make it easier for you, in addition to the recipe, you have the video of the process, which you can watch below.

Ingredients

• 2 sheets of refrigerated puff pastry
• Traditional or basil pesto (you can buy it or make it, you will find the recipe here )
• 1 beaten egg

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Roll out the puff pastry sheets.
3. Place one sheet on top of the other without pressing them, and cut them into triangles. Set aside the cut dough scraps.
4. Line a baking sheet with baking paper (either the De Buyer non-stick perforated baking sheet or a smooth one, such as the Nordic Ware Naturals® Collection baking sheet ).
5. Separate the two doughs again and place one of them on the baking paper, and spread the pesto over it, covering the whole surface. You want to use the pesto that is well mixed or the thickest part, or the oil will leak out of the puff pastry.
6. Place the other triangle on top of the pesto, so that both layers are even.

Grades

• As I mentioned at the beginning, you can buy ready-made pesto. There are some very tasty and good quality ones. But I assure you that making it will take you very little time and you can always have it prepared in advance so as not to complicate things too much in the kitchen when you want to prepare the tree.
• This recipe offers many possibilities. You can fill the tree with whatever filling you prefer, such as the classic empanada filling or a more "sophisticated" filling with apple, foie gras and caramelized onion, for example; you can make several trees of different sizes with different fillings; or, if you are skilled at crafts, make whatever drawings you want and surprise your guests.