Puff Pastry Christmas Trees with Pesto and Cheese
Recipe for pretty puff pastry Christmas trees with pesto and cheese.This recipe makes about 16-18 trees.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
- 4-6 tbsp green pesto - click here for the recipe
- 300 g havarti - e.g. the round kind
- 1 egg, beaten - for glazing
You will also need
- 16-18 wooden skewers
Method
- Unroll one sheet of puff pastry and lay it on the worktop.
- Spread it with pesto and top with thin slices of the cheese. You will have an end piece left over - use it to cut out stars for decorating the tops of some of the trees.
- Do not slice the cheese too thickly, or the strips will be hard to fold. You can also use grated mozzarella (about 200 grams for one batch) - but it can be a little harder to control.
- Unroll the second sheet of puff pastry and lay it on top. Press the layers lightly together.
- Cut the pastry into strips about 2 cm wide - cutting across the short side, so each strip is the length of the short side.
- Fold each strip into soft waves, 3-4 layers - getting narrower towards the top. Push a wooden skewer all the way through the folds, leaving the top free so you can decorate it with a star if you like.Repeat with all the strips.
- Space the layers out a little - so the pastry can rise nicely.
- Brush the trees on their skewers with beaten egg and bake one tray at a time at 200°C in a conventional oven (top and bottom heat) for about 18-20 minutes - or both trays in a fan oven at 185°C for about 18-20 minutes. If you like, swap the trays round when there are 6-7 minutes of the baking time left.
- Serve them warm - and, if you like, brush the trees with a little pesto using a fine brush - it gives a lovely finish.