For cooking enthusiasts and grateful diners, there is nothing more anticipated at this time of year than having on the table any dish that smells, tastes, or conveys 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 that goal.
This is a very simple recipe that only requires minimal patience to give it the pretty tree shape and to have a good pesto prepared (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 whichever you like best or make several trees with the different pestos you'll find here, along with the basil one.
To make it easier, in addition to the recipe, you have the process video, which you can watch below.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of refrigerated puff pastry
- Traditional or basil pesto (you can buy it or make it yourself, you’ll find the recipe here)
- 1 beaten egg
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheets.
- Place one sheet on top of the other without pressing them, and cut them into triangle shapes. Reserve the leftover trimmed dough.
- Place parchment paper on a baking tray (the De Buyer nonstick perforated tray, or a plain one, like the Nordic Ware Naturals® Collection tray).
- Separate the two sheets again and place one of them on the parchment, and spread the pesto over it, covering the entire surface. You should use well-mixed pesto or the thicker part, otherwise the oil will spill out of the pastry.
- Place the other triangle over the pesto so that both sheets are even.
Notes
- As I mentioned at the beginning, you can buy pesto ready-made. There are very tasty and high-quality options. But I assure you that making it will take very little time and you can always have it prepared in advance so you don't complicate things in the kitchen when you want to make the tree.
- This recipe allows many possibilities. You can use whatever filling you prefer for the tree, such as the classic empanada filling or a more "sophisticated" one with apple, foie, and caramelized onion, for example; you can make several trees of different sizes with different fillings; or, if you're crafty, make any designs you want and surprise your guests.
