Puff Pastry Christmas Trees

This light and airy appetizer is prepared with store-bought sheets of frozen puff pastry and your favourite sun-dried tomato or basil pesto. They’re so quick and easy to prepare – anyone can do this! Serve with a side of warm marinara sauce for best results.

Everyone loves appetizers! It’s not something I prepare often throughout the year as a dish to serve before a meal, but I do prepare a whole meal with just appetizers from time to time. Puff Pastry Christmas Trees are one such appetizer that I could make an entire meal from! Hand them over to me with a side of warm, homemade marinara sauce and I will be quite happy and content!

I’m going to tell you all about this appetizer and how you can make it in your home this holiday season, but first, I want to tell you about what you can expect from Lord Byron’s Kitchen this Christmas. I know we’re just about to kick off the month of November, but I have a lot of Christmas-themed recipes to share with you this year, so I’ve got to get started early. So, before we get to a list of ingredients and instructions for this recipe, let me tell you about this series and more!

LORD BYRON’S 12 CHRISTMAS APPETIZERS SERIES

Another holiday series, Lord Byron? Yes – why not!? Welcome, Dear Reader, to the second of my annual holiday recipe series for this season! I’m calling this one Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers. This series will focus on easy-to-make appetizers that are both delicious and festive.

I will try to keep the recipes in this series quick and easy too. Most of them will require some baking, but they won’t be too complex that you can’t whip the up just before your guests arrive. Some are just assembly-type recipes, while others can be prepared in advance.

Just like every other holiday series that I’ve shared over the years, this series will see a new recipe shared every day for the next 12 days – even on Saturday and Sunday! You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to prepare the same holiday appetizers year after year?

SUBSCRIBE NOW SO THAT YOU NEVER MISS OUT ON NEW RECIPES!

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Lord Byron’s 12 Christmas Appetizers series! Even though this is the second series for this holiday season, you can always take a look back at previous years if you just cannot wait until the next recipe is published. Some of my favourites from previous years are my 12 Edible Wreaths of Christmas, my 12 Bars and Squares of Christmas series, and my 30 No-Bake Christmas Recipes post.

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday recipe countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Frozen Store-Bought Puff Pastry – It is easier than homemade puff pastry and it works well, however, you can certainly use homemade puff pastry if you prefer.
• Pesto – I am using a combination of sun-dried tomato pesto and basil pine nut pesto. You can use both or one or the other.
• Parmesan – This adds saltiness and nuttiness. Don’t skip out on it!
• Parsley – For garnish.

HOW TO MAKE PUFF PASTRY CHRISTMAS TREES

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set it aside. Next, roll out the thawed puff pastry sheets onto a cutting board. Using a pastry brush, evenly apply half of the pesto to one sheet of the pastry and the remaining pesto to the second sheet. Using a round wheel-type pizza cutter, cut the puff pastry into 1-inch strips.

Fold the strips in a zigzag pattern, mimicking the shape of a Christmas tree. Insert a wooden skewer into the center of the bottom of the tree and push it through the tree so that it sticks one inch out the top. Lay the trees onto the prepared baking sheets and evenly sprinkle over the parmesan cheese.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the trees to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
Garnish with parmesan. Plate and serve with warm marinara sauce.

WHAT IS PUFF PASTRY?

Puff pastry is a light, flaky, and buttery dough. It is thin layers of dough separated by a thin layer of butter. The dough is rolled out with a rolling pin and a layer of butter is smeared on top. Then, it’s folded over and rolled out again. This process is repeated over and over. Commonly, puff pastry can have up to 1,000 layers! Do you see why I’m not attempting to make it from scratch?

Once the puff pastry is baked, the butter melts to create steam. This is how those flaky layers are formed. Each layer of dough is separated from the next to create a puffed dough that’s golden brown and super delicate.

You can buy puff pastry in the frozen section of most grocery stores. Look in the pie crust and cool whip section of the freezer. You can use puff pastry for so many things, so you might want to buy extra and keep it in your freezer. Whatever you do, please follow the directions on the package very carefully. Each manufacturer seems to have different prep and baking times.

BASIL PESTO

A few years ago, I shared my recipe for Peppery Double Parmesan Basil Pesto with you. Back then, John.e was still working as a graphic designer. A colleague of his – Adam – grew a large amount of basil on his deck right in the city. He gave a bunch to us. The leaves were so tender and fresh, and they had a very consistent green colour. I grow my own basil now and I find it to be quite finicky! But, this basil was perfect!

I used Adam’s basil in one of the best ways I know how – uncooked! I think a herb as delicate as basil, doesn’t need anything but a good wash in some cold water. That’s why pesto is my go-to dish for fresh basil. It’s pureed with some other ingredients, never losing its beautiful green colour, flavour, or scent. In my basil pesto recipe, I did just what the title of the recipe suggests – I increased the amount of ground black pepper and the amount of parmesan too.

I also added some dried red chili flakes. The ground black pepper provides heat and warmth, while the dried red chili flakes provide heat and spice. I balanced that heat with the saltiness and creaminess of the parmesan, as well as a little bit of lemon juice. Delicious! It’s the only basil pesto I ever use!

SUN-DRIED TOMATO PESTO

If you’re like me, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto can be eaten right from the jar with a spoon!  Pre-making this super easy sauce will save you the hassle of having to go to the grocery store on your way home to pick up a jar, and you will not believe the difference in the taste!

Making this pesto really couldn’t be easier or faster. The food processor does all of the work for you! Layer the ingredients into your food processor as follows – basil leaves, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes with the oil from the jar, salt, and black pepper.

Pulse until the desired consistency is achieved. Pesto is not meant to be extra smooth, so don’t over-process the ingredients. Remove the lid and add the parmesan cheese. Again, pulse a few times to blend through the cheese. Check the consistency. Add more olive oil if you’d like a more wet pesto. I always add 1/4 cup more, but you can add a tablespoon at a time until you get to your desired consistency.

TRY MY QUICK AND EASY HOMEMADE MARINARA SAUCE!

Some people think sauces should be simmered all day. Some people are just too busy for that. 30 Minute Marinara Sauce takes a few shortcuts and the result tastes like it has been simmering since before the sun came up. The practice of simmering a sauce all day which has been prepared using fresh tomatoes and basil is foreign to me. That’s why I have created this quick and easy marinara sauce recipe.

Growing up, our marinara sauce came from a jar or a can. There were no locally grown tomatoes. Period. I remember my parents buying “fresh” tomatoes whenever they went out of town for groceries. I say “fresh,” because most of the time they were lined up in a plastic container, wrapped in cellophane, and had the words PRODUCT OF MEXICO printed on the side. Ha!

Making marinara sauce at home using store-bought, or home-canned tomatoes, is the thing I like to do. We have pasta almost every Sunday night for dinner and I start my sauce with a jar of my homemade canned diced tomatoes. Everything goes in at the same time. It’s easy and you’ve got to try it!

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down below the recipe card to find my Follow Me on Social Media box and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!